
Class_ 

Book 



COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 



AMERICA'S BATTLE FOR 
CUBA'S FREEDOM 

CONTAINING 

A COMPLETE RECORD OF SPANISH TYRANNY AND OPPRESSION 
SCENES OF VIOLENCE AND BLOODSHED; 

Daring Deeds of Cuban Heroes and Patriots 

THRILLING INCIDENTS Of : THE CONFLICT; AMERICAN AID FOR 

I HE CAUSE OF CUBA; SECRE1 EXPEDITIONS; INSIDE 

I ACTS OF lilt: WAR, ETC., ETC. 

GRF.A1 RESOUR PRODUCTS WD SCENERY OF ("HE "QUEEN 

OF THE AN I II I VNNERS VND CUSTOMS 

OF i III. PEI MM E, I- I« ., I IC. 

Senor GONZALO dc QUESADA 

Charge d'Affaires of the Republic oi Cuba, at Washington, 1 

Henry Davenport Northrop 

know 11 Btitl 

rO WHICH IS ADDED A FULL ACCOUN1 OF THE DESTRUCTION 

I IF IHI B MM ESHIP '• MAINE " AND THE REP< )RT OF THE 

NAVAI BOARD; HURRIED PREPARATIONS FOR 

WAR WITH SPAIN, ETC., ETC. 

Embellished with many Beautiful Phototype Engravings 



[national Publishing Co. 

241 AMERICAN STREET 
PHILADELPHIA. PA. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1S9S, bj 

J. R. JONES, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C 

All Rights Reserved. 



TWDCOHf.s "iCEIVED. 






v4-V\oVV)V*Xn\ VW*> 




v 8 s<*- 



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& AT, 



TO THE 



ARMY OF CUBAN PATRIOTS, 



WHO ARE 



Sacrificing their Lives in the Cause of Freedom, 
this Volume is 

DEDICATED 

WITH THE HOPE AND BELIEF THAT 



THEIR 



GREAT STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 
Will be Crowned with Success. 



APPEAL TO AMERICANS. 

By a Lieutenant from the Cuban Army. 

r/vt (V\r«/0wC OvIato'Lu.u^o-vi. . y v^a/vi WL<xww.v&. rive. 
,jta«, btA/wH«, AA>vva.w^ (ft -{/imp- <su£*- 

(TV AATYV.^VV vi ^OYltiXvw^cl MA, "^fWu fyrwiyrlfoiAAAWL^ 

V\mX OWvcL 'KOVU M "itae. C/OWIA- Wr -WVw/uL *u> 
OM/cl fyvVUA,(\ "T^VtAX uvu. ^t ?f) h 

4oC fcy, vat WvirvA/U^ ffiirue, Latou^ i/mw/ J 



PREFACE. 



THE eyes of the whole world are turned toward Cuba, eagerly 
watching her Great Struggle for Freedom. The American 
people recall the long and gory conflict that made this a free 
and independent nation. Their hearts beat high and their blood 
grows warm as they read of Cuba's gallant fight for Independence. 

The Cuban people have the same reason for their Great Revolu- 
tion that America had when she threw off the yoke of oppression. 
For long ages the beautiful " Queen of the Antilles " has suffered 
under the curse of Spanish tyranny and injustice. She has been 
robbed and impoverished. Just rights have been denied to her peo- 
ple. Repeatedly and gallantly she has fought to be free and has 
poured out her blood. 

The whole tragic story is contained in this very comprehensive 
volume. The reader follows the silver-starred flag of the Cuban 
Patriots which waves from one end of the Island to the other. He 
sees an army of heroes fighting as Spartans fought at Thermopylae, 
as sturdy Scots fought at Bannockburn, as the brave souls in our 
own Revolution fought at Bunker Hill and Yorktown. 

Part I. treats of the Great Insurrection. Spanish brutality and 
injustice are pictured as they really are, and the reader fully under- 
stands why Cuba demands Independence from the atrocious rule of 
the haughty Castilian. 

In a speech on the Cuban question, Congressman Robert R. Hitt, 
Chairman of the Committee on Foreign Affairs, used the following 
stirring words : " Americans, who are descendants of those who 



iv PREFACE. 

struggled through a contest against tyranny like that now being 
waged in Cuba, cannot be false to the memory of their fathers nor to 
the traditions and spirit of their history." 

In this volume the opening scenes in the beginning of the war are 
vividly depicted. Then comes General Campos from Spain, with his 
Army of 75,000 troops. All the stirring incidents of the conflict are 
pictured in glowing colors — the successes of the Patriot Army, the 
downfall of General Campos, the arrival of General Weyler, secret 
expeditions, and pathetic stories of the war. 

Part II. contains the complete History of Cuba from its discovery 
by Columbus to the present time. Striking portraits are given of 
the early Spanish rulers, and all the great events are vividly depicted. 
The story of Marti, the conspiracy of Lopez, the slaughter of the 
crew of the " Virginius," are told in all their thrilling details. 

Part III. gives a picturesque description of Cuba, one of the love- 
liest gardens of the Tropics. This, like every other part of the 
work, has a peculiar charm to all readers. They behold the natural 
scenery of the far-famed Island ; they see the people in their native 
homes ; they learn all the manners, customs, peculiarities and charac- 
teristics of the Cubans, and find at the close of this most instructive 
volume that they have made a journey through every part of the 
" Queen of the Antilles." 

This work stirs anew the sympathy of the American people for the 
brave Cuban Patriots who have resolved to free their beautiful Island 
from the oppression under which it has long suffered and bled. 
The conflict has been waged before, but never with such grim resolu- 
tion and heroic bravery. The day of victory is not far distant. 

" Freedom's battle once begun, 
Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son, 
Though baffled oft, is always won." 



CONTENTS. 

PART I. 

The Great Insurrection in Ouba. 

CHAPTER I. 

PAGE 

THE LONG STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE 17 

CHAPTER II. 

SPANISH TYRANNY AND INJUSTICE 28 

CHAPTER III. 

WHY CUBA DEMANDS SELF-GOVERNMENT 42 

CHAPTER IV. 

BEGINNING OF THE WAR 57 

CHAPTER V. 

INSURGENT CAMPAIGN IN WESTERN CUBA 66 

CHAPTER VI. 

DOWNFALL OF GENERAL CAMPOS 73 

CHAPTER VII. 

GENERAL WEYLER IN CUBA 85 

CHAPTER VIII. 

HORRIBLE STORY OF BARBARITY 96 

rii 



viii CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IX. 

PAGK 

MEN AND ARMS FOR CUBA 103 

CHAPTER X. 

IMPRISONMENTS AND MASSACRES 114 

CHAPTER XL 

FREEDOM FOR CUBA 127 

CHAPTER XII. 

SPANISH INSULTS TO THE AMERICAN FLAG 136 

CHAPTER XIII. 

HORRORS OF MORRO CASTLE 142 

CHAPTER XIV. 

STIRRING INCIDENTS OF THE CONFLICT 151 

CHAPTER XV. 

PATHETIC STORIES OF THE WAR 166 

CHAPTER XVI. 

SUCCESSES OF THE REVOLUTIONISTS 177 

CHAPTER XVII. 

PEN-PICTURES OF THE WAR 187 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

SIDE-LIGHTS UPON THE STRUGGLE 20^ 

CHAPTER XIX. 

THE UNITED STATES TO THE RESCUE 233 



CONTENTS. ix 



PART II. 

History of Cuba and Spanish Misrule. 

CHAPTER XX. 

PAGE 

EARLY COLONISTS AND RULERS 257 

CHAPTER XXI. 

WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN .... - 277 

CHAPTER XXII. 

THE TYRANNICAL RULE OF SPAIN 295 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

A WILY OLD GENERAL 306 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

RECORD OF ATROCIOUS DEEDS 317 

CHAPTER XXV. 

STORY OF MARTI, THE SMUGGLER 334 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

THE CONSPIRACY OF LOPEZ 340 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

THE BITTER TEN YEARS' WAR 357 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

BUTCHERY OF THE CREW OF THE "VIRGINTUS" 367 



x CONTENTS. 

PART III. 

Picturesque Cuba: Manners and Customs of the People. 

CHAPTER XXIX. 

PAGE 

FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE ISLAND 378 

CHAPTER XXX. 

CURIOUS SIGHTS IN HAVANA 389 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

FAMOUS LOCALITIES AND BUILDINGS 400 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

CELEBRATED AVENUES AND GARDENS 413 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

SUGAR-MAKING IN CUBA 426 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

DESCRIPTION OF FAR-FAMED MATANZAS 439 

CHAPTER XXXV. 

A QUAINT OLD TOWN 455 

CHAPTER XXXVI. 

HERE AND THERE IN CUBA 465 

CHAPTER XXXVII. 

LIFE IN THE COFFEE MOUNTAINS 479 

CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

RURAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS • 497 

DISTINGUISHED CUBAN PATRIOTS ' 513 

APPENDIX OF LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA 545 



WAR-SONG OF THE CUBAN PATRIOTS. 



HIMNO BAYAMES. 



ifiSF? 



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Al coin-bat - ie co-rred ba - ya-nie - 
To the com - bat rush on - ward Cu - ban - 



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- os, That our 





pa - tria os com-tem-pla or - gullo 
land may with pride look up - on 



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you. 



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Fear in 



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death naught that 



glo - rio 
glo - ri 




HIMNO BAYAMES. Concluded. 



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rir por la pa - tria es vivir. 

die for one's country's to live; 

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En ca- de - nas vi - vir es - mo - 
Life in chains is naught else but 



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In what shame and in -suit are we not 



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bled, Now the bu 






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fas ar - mas va-lien - tcs co-rred. 
call, Then to arms val-iently and to field 



[I! 



PART I. 

The Great Insurrection in Cuba 



CHAPTER I. 
The Long Struggle for Independence. 

THE most glowing pages of history are thore that record the 
proud achievements of patriots and heroes to gain national 
liberty and independence. Sparta had her Thermopylae. 
Scotland had her Bannockburn and immortal Bruce. America had 
her Revolution, her Bunker Hill and Yorktown. Cuba has her 
patriot an \y, resolved that her fertile plains shall no longer be tram- 
pled under the heel of Spanish tyranny, and the warm sea that laves 
her rocky shores shall sing the anthem of the free 

"Queen of the Antilles ! " Beautiful Cuba! For ages she has 
writhed under the oppression of the haughty Castilian. Spain, now 
in hopeless decline, once the mightiest nation of the globe, has had 
many of the richest of her colonial possessions, one after another, 
wrenched from her cruel grasp, and with desperate resolve sends the 
flower of her army to beat back the insurgent hosts and strengthen 
her hold upon this fairest gem of the West Indies. 

Th.3 American people are alive to the situation. They recall the 
gory conflict that made themselves a free and independent nation. 
Their hearts beat high and their blood grows warm as they read the 
thrilling story of struggling Cuba and the brave deeds of her patriotic 
souls. To give here a complete history and description of Cuba's 
grand uprising, is all the advocacy that her sacred cause requires. 
Ft will be of interest to the reader to have, in the first place, a com- 
2 17 



IS STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 

prehensive sketch of the Spanish oppressions under which the people 
of Cuba have struggled for ages, together with their heroic efforts to 
obtain their freedom and independence. The history will be given 
later in detail, but from this general outline, a correct idea can be ob- 
tained of the causes which have led to the latest and greatest revolu- 
tion. Since the beginning of the present century Cuba has been the 
scene of revolutions or uprisings of one kind or another. The direct 
aim of most, if not all, of these has been to free the island from Span- 
ish control. The armed natives of the cities, joined by bands of 
stragglers and aided by filibusters, have struggled without organiza- 
tion against drilled, uniformed and comparatively well-equipped reg. 
ular troops representing Spain. 

Glowing Record of Brave Deeds. 

For a long time insurrection was the term applied to these upris- 
ings. At first, and indeed, until recently, it may be doubted if these 
uprisings had the genuine sympathy of the Cubans as a body, and 
consequently, they were foredoomed to be failures. 

But the history of these struggles is replete with brave deeds and 
exhibitions of personal courage and strategy that would do credit to 
a body of men familiar with the science of warfare and accustomed 
to facing danger on the battlefield. 

The Spanish colonies, Cuba excepted, gained their independence 
in 1820-21. Bolivar was their successful leader, and v/hen he had 
fired the other provinces of Spain he turned his attention particularly 
to Cuba. But for a time his project failed; some Cuban revolution- 
lists allege that it was the refusal of the United States to countenance 
such efforts which prevented their success. Be that as it may, the 
efforts of the islanders to throw off the Spanish yoke came to nothing 
material 

But Bolivar and his fellow-conspirators were determined, and 
sought by every means in their power to stir up rebellion in the 
Island. Commissioners were sent to Cuba to create sentiment favor- 
able to revolution. They were soon seized by the Spanish authori- 
ties and executed. Bolivar's plan came to a dismal end. 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 18 

Revolution was in the blood of many of the Cubans, however, and 
not many years later it had manifestation. From 1848 to 1854 small 
and ill-planned uprisings took place. Certain elements in the South 
em States assisted in encouraging these insurrections. 

There was for some time in Southern circles a project looking to 
the annexation of Cuba to the United States, and its division into 
four States, each of which, of course, would have been entitled to 
representation in Congress, giving the South, perhaps, eight Senators 
and sixteen Representatives, and so throwing the balance of power 
here into the hands of the slavery advocates. 

Captured and Put to Death. 

The most important of these movements was that headed by Nar- 
ciso Lopez, who had served in the Spanish army as a general of divi- 
sion, but who, on going to Cuba, espoused the cause of the revolu- 
tionists. He, with Crittenden, the Kentuckian, with a force of 400 
Americans and 200 Cubans, set out from New Orleans, landed at 
Cardenas, on the north coast of Cuba, and captured it by assault. 

The victory was a hollow one, for the time had been ill-advised 
and the country did not rise. Finding themselves without support, 
and seeing that without aid from the Cubans, they must be captured 
or driven into the sea, the invaders returned to Key West. The 
Cubans on that occasion regarded the movement as one solely in the 
; nterests of slavery, and believed its projectors to be inspired by 
mercenary motives. 

But Lopez was not to be cast down by one failure. He made a 
second attempt, and landed at Bahia Honda. There he encountered 
a force of Spanish troops, under Gmeral Henna, and put them to 
rout. The Spanish commander was killed, and for the time the star 
of Lopez was in the ascendant. Still the country did not rise. 
Lopez, in the western end of the Island, where Spanish troops were 
strongest and the revolutionary spirit weakest, soon found himself 
surrounded and overpowered. Crittenden, who was to h-xve joined 
him, remained on the coast, and finally attempted to escape by taking 
to the open sea in boats. He was captured, with fifty of his men. 



20 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 



and all were put to death in Havana. The execution was marked by 
atrocities, the news of which rang through the civilized world. 

The forces of Lopez, overpowered by Spanish troops, were dis- 
persed with ease. The com- 
mander himself was garro- 
ted. The Island was quiet 
for a time then, but not for 
long. Other attempts to arouse 
the country up to 1 854 were 
those of Pinto, a Spaniard oi 
revolutionist tendencies ; Es- 
trampes and Aguero, the 
last-named of whom freed all 
his slaves before he raised the 
rebel standard. He was the 
first outspoken abolitionist 
H in Cuba. He and the other 
Y leaders were captured after a 
brief struggle and executed. 

There were some unim- 
portant risings after that, but 
none of note until after the 
American civil war. This 
the Southern States had no 
The filibustering movements 




W 






'»/?■;, 



&§* 



a» 



GENERAL MAXIMO GOMEZ, 
Commander-in-Chief, Cuban Army. 



conflict abolished slavery. Then 

further object in meddling with Cuba. 

died out. It remained for Cuba to attempt to work its own salvation. 

In 1868 came the hour which thousands of patriots hailed as the 
dawn of deliverance, for on October 10 of that year Cespedes raised 
the five-barred flag at Yara. He was a lawyer and logical above all 
things, so to begin with he freed his two hundred slaves, and they 
followed him to battle to a man. The entire eastern end of the 
Island rose against the Spaniards at the call of Cespedes, but the men 
were without arms or discipline. Their spirit was unquestioned, but 
they were of little utility against well-armed and disciplined forces. 

Their leaders were Maximo Gomez, who is now commander-in» 
Chief of the revolutionary forces ; Marmol and Figueredo. 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 



21 



The centre of the Island, called Camaguey, flocked to the standard 
sf the Marques de Sta Lucia and the Agramontes in November, and a.- 
enthusiasm and confidence came with numbers the beginning of 1868 
saw Las Villas in rebellion with 14,000 men, among whom there 
were not more than 100 armed with effective firearms. To oppos<» 
these unarmed and undisciplined enthusiasts there were 15,000 regu- 
lars. 

The western end of the Island proved cold, but even there small 
uprisings were fomented. They were put down without difficulty. 
Aid from without was not wanting. In 
December, 1868, General Quesada land- 
ed with the first expedition from Nassau, 
bringing the first consignment of arms 
and munitions of war. The revolution- 
ist cause prospered, and on April 10, 
1869, a new government was constituted 
a. J a House of Assembly established. 
Cespedes was President of the provi- 
sional government, and Quesada com- 
mander-in-chief of the forces. 

The government, which had little be- 
yond its name, issued a proclamation giving freedom to all the ne- 
groes in the island — a matter which gave great offence to the Span- 
iards, even those of liberal tendencies. 

Ten years of desultory warfare followed. The revolutionists held 
the centre of the Island and the mountains, but were unable to obtain 
any standing in the seaports, as their flag was not recognized there 
1 by the great powers, although it was duly saluted from time to time 
by the South American Republics. The United States did not 
recognize the revolutionists, despite the efforts of General Rawlings 
and Senator Sherman to that end. 

Every effort was made to send arms to the insurgents. There 
were continual attempts at blockade-running. Some of these expe- 
ditions evaded capture, but others were taken by Spanish troops and 
the leaders were promptly executed. The most notable was that oi 




CUBAN COAT OF ARMS. 



22 oTRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 

the " Virginius," under Captain Fry. The " Virginius " put out from 
Kingston, Jamaica. The capture of the "Virginius" and the summary 
execution of American citizens by the Spanish authorities so excited 
this nation at the time that war with Spain seemed certain. This 
was one of the most notable incidents in Cuban history, at least in 
point of Americ?m interest. 

Had the popular voice been heeded at that time \ peaceful solu- 
tion of the difficulty would have been impossible. Feeling ran so 
high throughout the country that public meetings were held all over 
the country denouncing the execution as a butchery, and warlike 
preparations were begun in many cities. In some cases ships were 
prepared to go to sea in anticipation of an immediate declaration of 

war. 

Tragic End of the Expedition. 

The voyage of the "Virginius" was begun in November of 1873. 
The steamer was pursued by the Spanish warship " Tornado," and cap- 
tured within sight of the Morant Point Lighthouse, at the east end 
of Jamaica. She was towed at once into Santiago de Cuba, despite 
the fact that she was flying the Stars and Stripes and was in British 
waters. Fifty-three of her men were shot in a public square in San- 
tiago, in some instances after they had been given a trial lasting only 
ten minutes. 

Among them was Captain Joseph Fry, who commanded the ship ; 
Bernade Varona, W. A. C. Ryan, Jesus del Sol and Pedro Cespedes. 
There was no United States cruiser within reach of Santiago, but the 
British man-of-war " Niobe" arrived in time to prevent further slaugh- 
ter of American and English subjects. Her commander, Sir Lanv 
bon Lorraine, acted with quickness and determination. 

" Shoot another Englishman or American," he said, " and the 
Niobe will bombard the city." 

Then the slaughter ceased. Both the United States and England 
protested through their representatives, and sent men-of-war to pro- 
tect the other prisoners. The survivors were delivered up to the 
rescuing ships and brought to New York, and the " Virgin>->," with 
% feole in her bottom, sank off Frying Pan Shoals. 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 23 

The return of the survivors and an accurate knowledge of the 
details of the shooting only served to fan into fierce blaze the fire of 
popular indignation. The general voice was for war with Spain, and 
General Sickles, then American Minister in Madrid, had already- 
asked to be recalled, and was preparing to leave the capital. 
Finally, however, the matter was adjusted diplomatically. The Span- 
ish Government paid an indemnity for the American subjects shot 
with General Ryan and Thomas Ryan, and the war cloud blew over. 

But in Cuba the revolutionsts continued their fight for supremacy. 
For five years — until 1878 — they strove against terrible odds in the 
centre of the Island and in the mountains. At last they saw that the 
lack of arms and supplies and of money to purchase either had made 
the struggle a hopeless one, and they decided to make peace. 

Promises of Reform by Spain. 

A treaty was signed, by which Spain granted the native Cubans 
certain liberties, promised to reform their administration in some 
measure, and recognized the freedom of all the slaves who had fought 
in the Cuban army. It had been a long and desperate fight. Quesada 
had been succeeded as General-in-chief by General Thomas Jordan, 
formerly General Beauregard's chief of staff and a West Pointer. 
He lent much strength to the cause, but abandoned it as hopeless 
after a year's campaigning in the face of overwhelming odds, and 
with a few arms and scant supplies. After him came Agramonte, 
but he died in a year, and then, when the rebel cause seemed to be 
prospering, General Gomez took command. He invaded the western 
part of the Island and almost reached Matanzas, but he, too, saw 
that he could not gain ground with unarmed men and withdrew his 
forces. That was in 1876, and from that time the revolution waned 
until the treaty of El Zanjon in February, 1878. 

Still there was not entire quiet. In the east end of Cuba General 
Maceo refused to recognize the treaty, and continued to fight for 
eleven months, only to fail in the end and be driven from Cuban soil. 
The treaty concessions were by no means liberal enough to maintain 
order for any length of time. In 1880 General Garcia tried again. 




24 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 



25 



He was captured in 1875, but before surrendering shot himself under 
the chin, the bullet passing- out at the forehead. He was sent to a 
fortress in Spain, and when he recovered made his escape to th<* 
iJnited States. 

Here he and Tose Martw 
planned another expedition to Cu- 
ba. They landed and held their 
ground for six months, only to 
find that the country was not ripe 
for revolt. The Cubans, weary of 
continual turmoil and bloodshed, 
longed for quiet. At last Garcia 
was captured and sent once more 
to Spain. From this time dates 
the autonomist party, starred by 
a group of men who maintained 
that experience would not justify 
further attempts to gain freedom 
for Cuba by force of arms, and 
that the Island's hope lay in peace- 
ful measures alohe. The party Jose marti, 
gained a footing very rapidly ; in- Late President of the Evolutionary In- 
deed, its existence and doctrine had much to do with the failure of 
General Garcia and the Cuban party of freedom. 

Despite the efforts of the peace party, however, there were revolu- 
tionist leaders who were ready to try again. In 1884 Generals Gomez 
and Maceo visited the United States and Central America with a view 
of preparing for another invasion. The movement was opposed 
bitterly by the home-rule party in Cuba, and was abandoned. Small 
and ill-advised attempts at revolution followed from time to time after 
that, notably those headed by Limbano Sanchez, Benitez and Aguero. 

The home-rulers, in the meantime, were attempting to get what con- 
cessions they could from Spain by peaceful means. In 1890 they be- 
came restless again. The peace policy did not prosper. Cuba was 
growing uneasy again. The concessions, small and unsatisfactory at all 




26 STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 

times, began to be regarded as sops which Spain distributed to maiiv 

rain peace. They gave no promise of more liberal treatment in future 

Men began to say that the native Cubans were cheated at the polls, 

and in time their representatives went to the Cortes no more. 

For fourteen years the home-rulers, led by such men as Govin 

Montoro, Figueroa, Fernandez de Castro and Giberga, had made 

most vigorous fights at the polls, and, notwithstanding conservative 

frauds, had sent their best orators to the Spanish Parliament. It was 

to no purpose. The home-rulers spoke to empty benches in Spain, 

and no party there recognized them. They succeeded, nevertheless, 

in forcing the conservatives in Cuba to modify their policy and aided 

manfully to complete the emancipation of the negro, following the 

Cuban Constitution, which declared that " all men are free." With 

the economic party they forced the government to celebrate the 

Spanish-American treaty, without which the fate of the Island was 

sealed. 

Divided on Important Questions. 

The conservatives divided into two groups, one leaning toward 
union with the Cubans on economic questions and hoping secretly for 
the annexation of Cuba by the United States. They were demoral- 
ized by the refusal of the liberals to go to the polls, the autonomists 
having declared that unless the obnoxious suffrage laws which gave 
the Spaniards a sure majority at the polls and disfranchised the Cuban 
rural population were abolished, they would never go to the legisla- 
tive assembly again. 

The Spanish liberals really formed the economist party, to obtain 
commercial concessions and secure a treaty with the United States, 
and by joining hands with the Cubans they forced Spain's hand in the 
matter. But this, like the other efforts to restore quiet and content, 
proved a failure. The Cubans complained that in return for the treaty 
and its benefits to the Island Spain imposed new taxes, which more 
than counterbalanced all the good that had been done. Representa- 
tives were sent to the Spanish Parliament again, the home-rule con- 
tingent demanding, as of old, electoral reform sufficient to guarantee 
just representation. 



STRUGGLE FOR INDEPENDENCE. 27 

It was then that the Cuban revolutionary party began to gain 
prominence — the party which has drawn the sword in the latest revo- 
lution — and asserted boldly that peaceful measures, looking to freedom 
and equality, had failed, and that Cuba must take up arms again and 
drive the Spanish soldiers into the sea. Such talk was dangerous on 
Cuban soil. Leaders of the party who were not already in exile left 
Cuba and began to plan from the outside, to raise money, to stir up 
the native population by secret agents — in a word to prepare the Island 
for one grand united effort to be free. 

While this sentiment was being nursed at home and outside of Cuba 
the peace party was still at work on its own lines. In 1894 the reform 
wing of the Spaniards joined the Cubans in their fight against the 
Spanish conservatives. They secured some reforms, but these, the 
Cubans say, are a mere farce, as the proposition is the establishment 
of a council in Cuba in which the Spanish element will predominate. 
This council was to consist of thirty members, of which fifteen were 
to be appointed by the crown, and the remainder elected. The 
method of electing, the Cubans contend, would insure a majority for 
the Spaniards, and in any event the council might be dissolved at 
pleasure by the Captain-General, whoever he might be. 

The Cubans want universal suffrage, and have been unable to secure 
it. as the Spaniards have insisted upon certain property qualifications. 



CHAPTER II. 
Spanish Tyranny and Injustice. 

BY agreement that is practically unanimous outside of Spain, the 
people of Cuba have just cause for complaint. They have 
been the victims of extortion. They have been systematically 
robbed and hence impoverished. Time after time they have sought 
redress, and the answer has been a Spanish army, landed on their 
shores. They have asked for representation in the Spanish Cortes, 
and this has been granted so grudgingly that it has amounted to 
very little. They have plead long and earnestly for the correctior 
of abuses, only to find that the chains which bound them were 
riveted tighter. 

Under such outrages it is no wonder that the people of Cuba have 
risen repeatedly to throw off the yoke of the tyrant, and in their 
gallant struggles have had the sympathy of nearly the whole 
civilized world. 

War is a dire necessity. But when a people has exhausted all 
human means of persuasion to obtain from an unjust oppressor a 
remedy for its ills, if it appeals as a last resource to force in order to 
repel the persistent aggression which constitutes tyranny, this people 
is justified before its own conscience and before the tribunal of nations. 

Such is the case of Cuba in its wars against Spain. No nation 
has ever been harsher or more obstinately harassing; none has ever 
despoiled a colony with more greediness and less foresight than 
Spain. No colony has ever been more prudent, more long-suffering, 
more cautious, more persevering than Cuba in its purpose of asking 
for its rights by appealing to the lessons of experience and political 
wisdom. Only driven by desperation have the people of Cuba taken 
up arms, and having done so, they display as much heroism in the 
hour of danger as they had shown good judgment in the hour of 
deliberation. 
28 



SPANISH TYRANNY AND INJUSTICE. 29 

The history of Cuba during the present century is a long series 
of rebellions; but every one of these was preceded by a peaceful 
struggle for its rights — a fruitless struggle because of the obstinate 
blindness of Spain. 

Cubans were deprived of the little show of political intervention 

they had in public affairs. By a simple Royal Decree in 1837 the 

small representation of Cuba in the Spanish Cortes was suppressed, 

and all the powers of the government were concentrated in the hands 

of the Captain General, on whom authority was conferred to act as the 

governor of a city in a state of siege. This implied that the Captain 

General, residing in Havana, was master of the life and property of 

every inhabitant of the Island of Cuba. This meant that Spain 

declared a permanent state of war against a peaceful and defenceless 

people. 

Wandering Exiles. 

Cuba saw its most illustrious sons, such as Heredia and Saco, 
wander in exile throughout the free American Continent. Cuba saw 
as many of the Cubans as dared to love liberty and declare it by act 
or word, die on the scaffold, such as Joaquin de Aguero and Placido. 
Cuba saw the product of its people's labor confiscated by iniquitous 
laws imposed by its masters from afar. Cuba saw the administration 
of justice in the hands of foreign magistrates, who acted at the will 
or the whim of its rulers. 

Cuba suffered all the outrages that can humiliate a conquered 
people, in the name and by the work of a government that sarcastic- 
ally calls itself paternal. Is it to be wondered then that an uninter- 
rupted era of conspiracies and uprisings should have been inaugu- 
rated ? Cuba in its despair took up arms in 1850 and 185 1, conspired 
again in 1855, waged war in 1868, in 1879, in 1885, and has been 
fighting since the 24th of February, 1895. 

But at the same time Cuba has never ceased to ask for justice and 
redress. Its people, before shouldering the rifle, pleaded for their 
rights. Before the pronunciamento of Aguero and the invasions of 
Lopez, Saco, in exile, exposed the dangers of Cuba to the Spanish 
statesmen, and pointed to the remedy. Other far-sighted men 



SPANISH TYRANNY" AND INJUSTICE. 31 

seconded him in the Colony. They denounced the cancer of slavery, 
the horrors of the traffic in slaves, the corruption of the office-holders, 
the abuses of the government, the discontent of the people with their 
forced state of political tutelage. No attention was given to them, 
and this brought on the first armed conflicts. 

Before the formidable insurrection of 1868, which lasted ten years, 
the reform party, which included the most enlightened, wealthy and 
influential Cubans, exhausted all the resources within their reach to 
induce Spain to initiate a healthy change in the Cuban policy. The 
party started the publication of periodicals in Madrid and in the 
Island, addressed petitions, maintained a great agitation throughout 
the country, and having succeeded in leading the Spanish Govern- 
ment to make an inquiry into the economical, political and social 
condition of Cuba, they presented a complete plan of government 
which satisfied public requirements as well as the aspirations of the 
people. The Spanish Government disdainfully cast aside the propo- 
sition as useless, increased taxation, and proceeded to its exaction 
with extreme severity. 

Outbreak of the Long War. 

It was then that the ten-year war broke out. Cuba, almost a 
pigmy compared with Spain, fought like a giant. Blood ran in tor- 
rents. Public wealth disappeared in a bottomless abyss. Spain lost 
200,000 men. Whole districts of Cuba were left almost entirely 
without their male population. Seven hundred millions were spent 
to feed that conflagration — a conflagration that tested Cuban heroism, 
but which could not touch the hardened heart of Spain. The latter 
could not subdue the bleeding Colony, which had no longer strength 
\to prolong the struggle with any prospect of success. Spain pro- 
posed a compact, which was a snare and a deceit. She granted to 
Cuba the liberties of Puerto Rico, which enjoyed none. 

On this deceitful ground was laid the new situation, throughout 
which has run a current of falsehood and hypocrisy. Spain, whose 
mind had not changed, hastened to change the name of things. The 
Captain General was called Governor General. The royal decrees 



32 SPANISH TYRANNY AND INJUSTICE. 

took the name of authorizations. The commercial monopoly of 
Spain was named coasting trade. The right of banishment was 
transformed into the law of vagrancy. The abolition of constitu- 
tional guarantees became the law of public order. Taxation without 
the consent or knowledge of the Cuban people was changed into the 
law of estimates (budget) voted by the representatives of Spain, that 
is, of European Spain. 

The painful lesson of the ten-year war had been entirely lost on 
Spain. Instead of inaugurating a redeeming policy that would heal the 
recent wounds, allay public anxiety, and quench the thirst for justice 
felt by the people, who were desirous to enjoy their natural rights, the 
Spanish Government, while lavish in promises of reform, persisted in 
carrying on unchanged its old and crafty system, the groundwork ol 
which continues to be the same, namely : To exclude every native 
Cuban from every office that could give him any effective influence 
and intervention in public affairs ; the ungovernable exploitation of 
the colonists' labor for the benefit of Spanish commerce and Spanish 
bureaucracy, both civil and military. To carry out the latter pur- 
pose it was necessary to maintain the former at any cost. 

Systematic Robbery of Cuba. 

What use the Spanish Government has made of its power is 
apparent in the threefold spoliation to which it has submitted the 
Island of Cuba. Spain has not, in fact, a colonial policy. In the 
distant lands she has subdued by force, Spain has sought nothing but 
immediate riches, and these it has wrung by might from the compul- 
sory labor of the natives. For this reason Spain to-day in Cuba is 
only a parasite. Spain robs the Island of Cuba through its fisca. 
regime, through its commercial regime and through its bureaucratic 
regime. These are the three forms of official spoliation ; but they 
are not the only forms of spoliation. 

When the war of 1878 came to an end, two-thirds of the Island 
were completely ruined. The other third, the population of which 
had remained peaceful, was abundantly productive ; but it had to 
face the great economical change involved in the impending abolition 




DEADLY ENCOUNTER WITH THE SWORD AND THE 
MACHETE 

The Machete, to which constant references are made, is the implement 
used in cutting sugar cane. The weapon, however, is long and narrower 
than the ordinary machete, and is very deadly in the hands of the insurgents. 




CUBAN PATRIOTS FIGHTING FROM THE TREE TOPS 

Concealing themselves in the tops of palm trees, the insurgents make 
attacks as represented in the engraving. This mode of warfare is adopted 
for the purpose of concealment from the enemy, and with practice^ 
riflemen is most destructive^ 




ADMIRAL W. S. SCHLEY 




GENERAL MAXIMO GOMEZ 

This is the portrait of the renowned Commander-in-Chief of the 
Cuban Army. He comes from a distinguished family, to which 
frequent reference is made in Spanish history. His great ability 
as a general is equalled only by his ardent devotion to the cause of 
Cuban freedom. General Gomez is over seventy years of age, and 
is proud to devote his last days to the cause he has served so long. 





% -. 



GENERAL ANTONIO MACEO. 

This late General was the second in command of the Cuban 
Army. He had long experience in the ranks of Cuban Patriots, was 



well educated, and was considered a very able commander, 
achievements gave renown to the cause of the insurgents. 



His 




GENERAL CALIXTO GARCIA 

This renowned Commander has long been a conspicuous figure 
in Cuban insurrections. In the latter part of 1895 he was imprisoned 
at Madrid; being liberated, he returned at once to the United States, 
and was instrumental in organizing a formidable expedition to aid 
the Cuban Patriots. He is considered one of the ablest and most 
courageous Commanders among the Insurgents. 




GENERAL MARTINEZ CAMPOS 




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GENERAL WESLEY MERRITT 




GONZALO deQUESADA 
Charge d'Affaires of the Republic of Cuba, at Washington, D. C. 




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SPANISH TYRANNY AND INJUSTICE. 33 

of slavery. Slavery had received its death-blow at the hands of the 
insurrection, and Cuban insurrectionists succeeded at the close of the 
war in securing its eventual abolition. 

Evidently it would have been a wholesome and provident policy 
to lighten the fiscal burdens of a country in such a condition. Spair 
was only bent on making Cuba pay the cost of the war. The 
Government overwhelmed the Colony with enormous budgets, reach- 
ing as high a figure as forty-six million dollars, and this only to 
cover the obligations of the State ; or, rather, to fill up the unfathom- 
able gulf left by the wastefulness and plunder of the civil and military 
administration during the years of war, and to meet the expenses of 
the military occupation of the country. 

Oppressive Taxation. 

The economical organization of Cuba is of the simplest kind. It 
produces to expoit, and imports almost everything it consumes. In 
view of this, it is evident that all Cuba required from the State was 
that it should not hamper its work with excessive burdens, nor 
hinder its commercial relations ; so that it could buy cheap where it 
suited her, and sell her products with profit. 

Spain has done all the contrary. She has treated the tobacco as 
an enemy; she has loaded the sugar with excessive imposts; she 
has shackled with excessive and abusive excise duties the cattle- 
raising industry ; and with her legislative doings and undoings she 
has thrown obstacles in the way of the mining industry. And, to 
cap the climax, she has tightly bound Cuba in the network of a 
monstrous tariff and a commercial legislation which subjects the 
Colony, at the end of the nineteenth century, to the ruinous monopoly 
of the producers and merchants of certain regions of Spain, as in 
the halcyon days of the colonial compact. 

If Spain were a flourishing industrial country, and produced the 
principal articles required by Cuba for the consumption of its people, 
or for developing and fostering its industries, the evil, although 
always great, would be a lesser one. But everybody knows the 
backwardness of the Spanish industries, and the inability of Spain to 



I 




SPANISH TYRANNY AND INJUSTICE. 35 

supply Cuba with the products she requires for her consumption and 
industries. The Cubans have to consume or use Spanish articles of 
inferior quality, or pay exorbitant prices for foreign goods. The 
Spanish merchants have found, moreover, a new source of fraud in 
the application of these antiquated and iniquitous laws; it consists in 
nationalizing foreign products for importation into Cuba. 

As the mainspring of this senseless commercial policy is to sup- 
port the monopoly of Spanish commerce, when Spain has been com- 
pelled to deviate from it, to a certain extent, by an international 
treaty, it has done so reluctantly, and in the anxious expectation of 
an opportunity to nullify its own promises. This explains the acci- 
dental history of the Reciprocity Treaty with the United States, 
which was received with joy by Cuba, obstructed by the Spanish 
administration, and prematurely abolished by the Spanish Govern- 
ment as soon as it saw an opportunity. 

Seeds cf Discontent and. Dissension. 

The injury done to Cuba, and the evil effects produced by this 
commercial legislation, are beyond calculation ; its effects have been 
mateiial losses which have engendered profound discontent. The 
: ' Circulo de Hacendados y Agricultores," the wealthiest corporation 
of the Island, in 1894, passed judgment on these commercial laws in 
die following severe terms : 

" It would be impossible to explain, should the attempt be made, 
what is the signification of the present commercial laws, as regards 
any economical or political plan or system ; because, economically, 
they aim at the destruction of public wealth, and, politically, they 
are the cause of inextinguishable discontent, and contain the germs of 
grave dissensions." 

But Spain has not taken heed of this ; her only care has been to 
keep the producers and merchants of such rebellious provinces as 
Catalonia contented, and to satisfy its military men and bureaucrats. 

For the latter is reserved the best part of the booty taken from 
Cuba. High salaries and the power of extortion for the office- 
holders sent to the Colony ; reguiar tributes for the politicians who 



36 SPANISH TYRANNY AND INJUSTICE. 

uphold them in the Metropolis. The Governor General is paid a 

salary of $50,000, in addition to a palace, a country house as a sum- 
mer resort, servants, coaches and a fund for secret expenses at his 
disposal. The Director General of the Treasury receives a salary of 
$18,500. The Archbishop of Santiago and the Bishop of Havana, 
$18,000 each. The Commander General of the " Apostadero " 
(naval station), $16,392. 

Fat Salaries of Spanish. Officials. 

The General Segundo Cabo (second in command of the Island), 
and the President of the " Audiencia," £15,000 each; the Governor 
of Havana and the Secretary of the General Government, $8,000 
each; the Postmaster General, $5,000; the Collector of the Havana 
Custom House, $4,000; the Manager of Lotteries, the same salary. 
The Chief Clerks of Administration of the first class receive $5,000 
each, those of the second class $4,000, and those of the third class 
$3,000 each The major generals are paid $7,500, the brigadier 
generals $4,500, and, when in command, $5,000; the colonel^ $3,450, 
and this salary is increased when they are in command of a regiment. 
The captains of " nsivio " (the largest men-of-war) receive $6,300 ; the 
captains of frigates, $4,560; the lieutenants of "navfo" of the first 
class, $3,370. All these functionaries are entitled to free lodgings 
and domestic servants. Then follows the numberless crowd of minor 
officials, all well provided for, and with great facilities better to pro- 
vide for themselves. 

In August of 1887, General Marin entered the custom-house of 
Havana at the head of a military force, besieged and occupied it, 
investigated the operations carried on there, and discharged every 
employee. The act caused a great stir, but not a single one of the 
officials was indicted, or suffered a further punishment. There were, 
in 1 89 1, three hundred and fifty officials indicted in Cuba for commit- 
ting fraud; not one of them was punished. 

But how could they be punished ? Every official who comes to 
Cuba has an influential patron in the Court of Madrid, for whose pro- 
tection he pays with regularity. This is a public secret. General 



SPANISH TYRANNY AND INJUSTICE. 37 

Salamanca gave it out in plain words, and before and after General 
Salamanca all Spain knew and knows it. The political leaders are 
well known who draw the highest income from the office-holders of 
Cuba, who are, as a matter of course, the most fervent advocates of 
the necessity of Spanish rule in Cuba. 

But Spanish bureaucracy is, moreover, so deep-rooted in Spain 
that it has succeeded in shielding itself even against the action of thf 
courts of justice. There is a royal decree (that of 1882) in force in 
Cuba, which provides that the ordinary courts cannot take cognizance 
of such offences as defalcation, abstraction or malversation of public 
funds, forgery, etc., committed by officials of the administration, if 
their guilt is not first established by an administrative investigation. 
The administration is, therefore, its own judge. What further 
security does the corrupt office-holder need ? 

Why Cuba is Ruined. 

The cause of the ruin of Cuba, despite her sugar output of one 
million tons and her vast tobacco fields, can be easily explained. 
Cuba does not capitalize, and it does not capitalize because the fiscal 
regime imposed upon the country does not permit it. The money 
derived from its large exportations does not return either in the form 
of importations of gooas or of cash. It remains abroad to pay the 
interest of its huge debt, to cover the incessant remittances of funds 
by the Spaniards who hasten to send their earnings out of the coun- 
try, to pay from Cuban money the pensioners who live in Spain, and 
to meet the drafts forwarded by every mail from Cuba by the Span- 
iards as a tribute to their political patrons in the Metropolis, and to 
help their families. 

In exchange for all that Spaniards withhold from Cuba, they say 
that they have given her her liberties. This is a mockery. The lib 
erties are written in the Constitution, but obliterated in its practical 
application. Before and after its promulgation the public press has 
been rigorously persecuted in Cuba. Many journalists, such as 
Senores Cepeda and Lopes Brinas, have been banished from the 
country without the formality of a trial. In November of 1891 



38 SPANISH TYRANNY AND INJUSTICE. 

Don Manuel A. Balmaceda was tried by court martial for having 
published an editorial paragraph relative to the shooting of medical 
students. 

The newspapers have been allowed to discuss public affairs theo- 
retically ; but the moment they denounce any abuse or the conduct 
of any official they feel the hand of their rulers laid upon them. 
The official organ of the home-rule party, " El Pais," has undergone 
more than one trial for having pointed in measured terms to some 
infractions of the law on the part of officials, naming the transgress- 
ors. In 1887 that periodical was subjected to criminal proceedings 
simply because it had stated that a son of the president of the 
Havana " Audiencia " was holding a certain office contrary to law. 

Right of Public Meeting Denied. 

They say that in Cuba the people are at liberty to hold public 
meetings, but every time the inhabitants assemble, previous notifica- 
tion must be given to the authorities, and a functionary is appointed 
to be present, with power to suspend the meeting whenever he 
deems such a measure advisable. The meetings of the " Circulo de 
Trabajadores " (an association of workingmen) were forbidden by the 
authorities under the pretext that the building where they were to 
be held was not sufficiently safe. In 1895 the members of the " Cir- 
culo de Hacendados " (association of planters) invited their fellow- 
members throughout the country to get up a great demonstration to 
demand a remedy which the critical state of their affairs required. 
The government found means to prevent their meeting. 

One of the most significant events that have occurred in Cuba, and 
one which throws a flood of light upon its political regime, was the 
failure of the "Junta Magna" (an extraordinary meeting) projected 
by the " Circulo de Hacendados." This corporation solicited the 
co-operation of the " Sociedad Economica " and of the " Junta Gen- 
eral de Comercio " to hold a meeting for the purpose of sending to 
Madrid the complaints which the precarious situation of the country 
inspired. The work of preparation was already far advanced, when a 
friend of the government, Sefior Rodriguez Correa, stated that the 



SPANISH TYRANNY AND INJUSTICE. 39 

Governor-General looked with displeasure upon and forbade the hold- 
ing of the great meeting. This was sufficient to frighten the " Cir- 
culo " and to secure the failure of the project. It is then evident that 
the inhabitants of Cuba can have meetings only when the govern- 
ment thinks it advisable to permit them. 

Against this political regime, which is a sarcasm, and in which 
deception is added to the most absolute contempt for right, the 
Cubans have unceasingly protested since it was implanted in 1878. 
It would be difficult to enumerate the representations made in Spain, 
the protests voiced by the representatives of Cuba, the commissions 
that have crossed the ocean to try to impress upon the exploiters of 
Cuba what the fatal consequences of their obstinacy would be. 

A Bold Manifesto. 

The exasperation prevailing in the country was such that the 
" Junta Central " of the home-rule party issued in 1892 a manifesto in 
which it foreshadowed that the moment might shortly arrive when 
the country would resort to " extreme measures, the responsibility of 
which would fall on those who, led by arrogance and priding them- 
selves on their power, hold prudence in contempt, worship force and 
shield themselves with their impunity." 

This manifesto, which foreboded the mournful hours of the present 
war, was unheeded by Spain, and not until a division took place in 
the Spanish party, which threatened to turn into an armed struggle, 
did the statesmen of Spain think that the moment had arrived to try 
a new farce, and to make a false show of reform in the administrative 
regime of Cuba. Then was Minister Maura's plan broached, to be 
modified before its birth by Minister Abarzusa. 

This project, to which the Spaniards have endeavored to give cap- 
ital importance in order to condemn the revolution as the work of 
impatience and anarchism, leaves intact the political regime of Cuba. 
It does not alter the electoral law. It does not curtail the power of 
the bureaucracy. It increases the power of the general government. 
It leaves the same burdens upon the Cuban tax-payer, and does not 
give him the right to participate in the formation of the budgets. 



40 SPANISH TYRANNY AND INJUSTICE. 

The reform is confined to the changing of the Council of Admims 
tration (now in existence in the Island, and the members of which 
are appointed by the government) into a partially elective body. 
One-half of its members are to be appointed by the government, and 
the other half to be elected by the qualified electors, that is, who 
are assessed and pay a certain amount of taxes. The Governor Gen- 
eral has the right to veto all its resolutions, and to suspend at will 
the elective members. This Council is to make up a kind of special 
budget embracing the items included now in the general budget of 
Cuba under the head of" Fomento." The State reserves for itself all 

the rest. 

Treated, as a Subjugated People. 

Thus the Council can dispose of 2.75 per cent, of the revenues of 
Cuba, while the government distributes, as at present, 97.25 per cent, 
for its expenses, in the form we have explained. The general budget 
will as heretofore be made up in Spain; the tariff laws will be enacted 
by Spain. The debt, militarism and bureaucracy will continue to 
devour Cuba, and the Cubans will continue to be treated as a subju- 
gated people. All power is to continue in the hands of the Spanish 
government and its delegates in Cuba, and all the influence with the 
Spanish residents. This is the self-government which Spain has 
promised to Cuba, and which it is announcing to the world, in 
exchange for its colonial system. A far better form of government 
is enjoyed by the Bahama or the Turks Islands. 

The Cubans would have been wanting not only in self-respect, but 
even in the instincts of self-preservation, if they could have endured 
such a degrading and destructive regime. Their grievances are of 
such a nature that no people, no human community capable of valu- 
ing its honor and of aspiring to better its condition, could bear them 
without degrading and condemning itself to utter nullity and annihi- 
lation. 

SpcJn denies to the Cubans all effective powers in their own 
country. 

Spain condemns the Cubans to a political inferiority in the laud 
where they are born. 



SPANISH TYRANNY AND INJUSTICE. 41 

Spain confiscates the product of the Cubans' labor, without giving 
them in return either safety, prosperity or education. 

Spain has shown itself utterly incapable of governing Cuba. 

Spain impoverishes and demoralizes Cuba. 

To maintain by force of arms this monstrous regime, which brings 
ruin on a country rich by nature and degrades a vigorous and intelli- 
gent population, a population filled with noble aspirations, is what 
Spain calls to defend its honor and to preserve the prestige of its 
social functions as a civilizing power of America. 

Rebellion against Oppression. 

The Cubans, not in anger, but in despair, have appealed to arms 
in order to defend their rights and to vindicate an eternal principle, a 
principle without which every community, however robust in appear- 
ance, is in danger — the principle of justice. Nobody has the right 
of oppression. Spain oppresses Cuba. In rebelling against oppres- 
sion, Cuba defends a right. In serving her own cause she serves thfe 
cause of mankind. 

She has not counted the number of her enemies ; she has not 
measured their strength. She has cast up the account of her griev- 
ances. She has weighed the mass of injustice that crushes her, and 
with uplifted heart she has risen to seek redress and to uphold her 
rights. She may find ruin and death a few steps ahead. So be it. 
If the world is so indifferent to her cause, so much the worse for all, 
A new iniquity shall have been consummated. The principle of human 
solidarity shall have suffered a defeat. The sum of good existing in 
the world, and which the world needs to purify its moral atmosphere, 
shall have been lessened. 

The peop'ie of Cuba require only liberty and independence lo 
become a factor of prosperity and progress in the community of civil- 
ized nations. At present Cuba is a factor of intranquillity, disturb 
ance and ruin. The fault lies entirely with Spain. Cuba is not the 
offender; it is the defender of its rights. Let America, let the world 
decide where rest justice and right. 



CHAPTER III. 
Why Cuba Demands Self- Government. 

WE have already seen that there have been in Cuba repeated 
uprisings and the most heroic and self-sacrificing efforts to 
obtain independence. Every intelligent reader will con- 
clude that there must have been grave and serious causes for this 
chronic state of discontent and revolution. 

We will here allow a prominent, distinguished Cuban, whose in- 
telligence and discernment are not to be questioned, state the case in 
his own clear and convincing manner. This gentleman is Tomas 
Estrada Palma, Delegate and Minister Plenipotentiary " Republica 
de Cuba." This gentleman says : 

The cause of the present revolution in Cuba, briefly stated, may 
be said to be taxation without representation, a phrase certainly 
familiar tJ American ears and emphasized by the most important 
event in the history of the nation, the War for Independence. Is it 
not quite natural, especially in this progressive age, that an intelli- 
gent and spirited people like the Cubans should demand the right to 
govern themselves, especially in view of the fact that they have always 
suffered from misgovernment at the hands of their rulers ? 

For three hundred years, in the early history of Cuba, Spain 
almost forgot the existence of the Pearl of the Antilles, her attention 
being turned to Peru and Mexico, the countries of gold and silver. 
It is said that some of the Spanish officials even forgot the nam£ of 
the Island, directing their dispatches to the Isla de la Habana. 

All the laws for Cuba are made in Spain. The annual budget of 
the Island, that is, the annual estimate of revenue and expenditure, is 
made in Spain ; all the employes in the governmental service on the 
Island come from Spain. The Spaniards decide just how much 
money shall be raised by taxes and all the Cubans have to do is, to 
42 



WHY CUBA DEMANDS SELF-GOVERNMENT. 45 

use an Americanism, " step up to the captain's office and settle." 
The annual taxation amounts to between $24,000,000 anc j $ 2 6,ooo r 
O0O. Among the items of expenditure are $10,500,000 for interest 
on the national debt of Spain, nearly $7,000,000 for the army and 
navy, about $4,000,000 salaries for civil employes, $2,000,000 for 
pensions to retired military, civil and judicial officials or their 
widows, nearly $1,000,000 for the Judicial and $700,000 for the Trea- 
sury Department. 

No money is appropriated to primary public education, and only 
an insignificant sum to works of public utility and higher education. 
The municipalities provide for primary education as best they can, 
though their means are very limited, all the available methods 01 
raising revenue having been exhausted by the General Government 
This taxation, for a country of 1,600,000 inhabitants, is an enormous 
burden, but does not represent the real amount of money taken from 
the people. For every dollar raised by taxation another dollar is 
stolen by the Spanish officials sent to the Island by the paternal 
Government. 

Driven to take up Arms. 
Under these circumstances it is not surprising that the Cubans 
should demand the right to self-government. It must be remem- 
bered that they have not resorted to physical force until peaceable 
methods to secure redress of their wrongs have failed. The people 
have vainly applied to the Spanish Cortes for the right of self-govern- 
ment, not only at a comparatively recent date, but for the past 
seventy years they have vainly endeavored to secure their rights by 
legislative means and have hoped to avoid a war. 

The Spanish law-makers have invariably refused to grant them any 
real redress. I say real redress because the Cortes, about a year 
before the present revolution, offered a scheme of reform which 
would not have remedied any of the evils complained of, and was 
only intended as a sop to blind the eyes of the Cubans and keep 
them patient under the yoke of their masters. It did not, in any 
sense, provide for the self-government of Cuba. The Cubans would 
still be compelled to pay their enormous taxes, all the officials on 



44 WHY CUBA DEMANDS SELF-GOVERNMENT. 

the Island would still come from Spain as they have been coming 
from time immemorial. The budget would still be made in Spain to 
suit the ideas of the rulers there, and the Cubans would have just as 
little as ever to say about the management of affairs on their beauti- 
ful Island. 

Criminals Protected. 

The Spanish Government always protects its officials in Cuba 
when they have been discovered in any crime. It is very rarely that 
they are ever convicted of a crime, because the court officials are 
Spaniards and protect them in every possible way. Once in a great 
while, however, a Spanish official may be found guilty ; but, when he 
is sent to Spain where he is to receive his punishment, he is invari- 
ably pardoned. He uses the money which he has stolen from the 
Cubans to secure his release irom serving any sentence. 

Mr. Edward A. Gilmore, an American, who was employed on a 
sugar plantation in Cuba for several years, gave the following illus- 
tration of Spanish justice in Cuba in one of the New York dailies. 
Mr. Gilmore says that there was an estate for sale in a town not far 
from Havana. One of the Superior Judges wanted the estate and 
began negotiating for it. At the same time a young Cuban lawyer 
decided that the estate was a property that would suit him. He 
went to the owner, closed a contract with him, and the deed was 
made out. When the Spanish judge heard that he had lost the 
estate he determined to secure it, notwithstanding it had been sold 
to another party. 

He made a charge of fraud or some kind 01 illegality against the 
young lawyer, had the case tried before himself, promptly decided 
against the young lawyer, throwing him into prison for an alleged 
violation of the law, and confiscated the estate. Mr. Gilmore closes 
his recital of this incident by saying that this case is only one of a 
score of other cases of which he has personal knowledge. " The 
arrogance and injustice of the Spanish rulers," he says, "and the 
long-suffering spirit, the humility of the Cubans under the outrage- 
ous oppression from which they suffer, are simply incredible to one 
who does not know the facts." 



WHY CUBA DEMANDS SELF-GOVERNMENT. 45 

The attempt on the part of the Spanish Cortes to deceive, to hum- 
bug the Cubans into the idea that they were going to give them 
home rule, when they had no intention of so doing, certainly hastened 
the present uprising. After suffering so many years from the injus- 
tice of their "ulers, showing their discontent by several uprisings, 
notably the war of 1868 which lasted for ten years, the Cubans 
thought that Spain might finally reform the terrible abuses under 
which they had suffered so long. But Spain gave them nothing. 
Now, Cuba is fighting for the reforms which she vainly tried to secure 
by peaceable means. 

Hypocritical Promises. 

Spain talked about giving Cuba home rule, but there was not the 
slightest intention of giving to Cuba even the kind of home rule that 
Canada enjoys. Canada has her own Legislature, makes her own 
laws, and has her own government employes appointed from among 
her own people; and England, the mother country, only sends there 
a Governor-General. But that is not the case with Cuba, and Spain 
would never give that kind of government to the Cubans, if they 
wanted it, which they do not. 

There is really occasion for but very little commercial intercourse 
between Spain and Cuba, because the United States sends to the 
Island about everything that its inhabitants need, while, on the other 
hand, the United States is Cuba's great market for sugar. Spain 
cannot buy her sugar. Spain cannot supply her with flour. The 
flour that reaches Cuba is first sent to Spain, and from there to Cuba, 
so that the Spaniards may collect a duty from the Islanders. In that 
way the Cuban pays very clear for his flour, whereas he could obtain 
it very cheap if complete commercial intercourse existed between the 
two countries. 

The great advantage which Spain has in Cuba, and will hold on to 
until it is forcibly wrested from her, is that she has her own officer 
on the Island to make up the budget, so that it will be to the profit 
of Spain without regard to the benefit of the Cubans. She wants the 
Island to pay for her army and navy, consular expenses, and th» 



40 WHY CUBA DEMANDS SELF-GOVERNMENT. 



salaries of the Spanish officials sent to Cuba, who steal from the 
people as much again as they are paid for their services. Oh no; 
Spain will never grant home rule in any sense of the word to Cuba, 
from which she derives such a large revenue for her lazy and venal 
officials. 

The present uprising is, in every sense of the word, a real revolu- 
tion, because it comes from the 
whole people. The previous 
struggles for Cuban independence 
have generally been inspired by 
a few men occupying high posi- 
tions. At such times the mass 
of the people were not conscious 
of their rights, but, in the present 
great struggle, which we firmly 
believe will result in giving self 
government to Cuba, the whole 
Vy people, the lower as well as the 
higher classes, have engaged their 
sympathies in the movement, and, 
as far as they are able to do so, 
they give their aid. They have 
had their eyes opened to the leg- 
islative policy of Spain and her 
false promises of righting the 
wrongs of Cuba. They are indignant at the treatment they have 
received at her hands, both at home and in the Cortes, and they are 
thoroughly aroused to fight for the rights that they have bee» /ainly 
demanding for the past seventy years. 

It is not the fault of the Cubans that they have appealed to arms, 
They would be only too glad to secure their liberty without the aid 
of war; but it has been plainly and repeatedly demonstrated to them 
that they cannot obtain their rights without a physical struggle. 
" Who would be free, themselves must strike the blow." And so it 
is that in all orders of Cuban society, from the ignorant Negro to tho 




SALVADOR CISNEROS, 
President of the Cuban Republic. 



WHY CUBA DEMANDS SELF-GOVERNMENT. 47 

intelligent merchant and the educated man of letters, all are inspired 
with one thought, all are animated with one resolve — the indepen- 
dence of Cuba. 

/ The revolutionists in Cuba fight according to two methods, one is 
the guerrilla method, and the other is by massing their troops and 
fighting the Spanish forces in the open field. Whenever they can 
secure an advantageous position to meet the enemy in the open field 
they mass two or three thousand or more men, and battle with the 
Spaniards ; then they divide their forces into bands of two or three 
hundred each and engage in guerrilla warfare. They are glad to 
meet the enemy face to face, and do so when they can secure an 
opportunity. The revolution has extended from the eastern part 
very far into the western end of the land. I should say that the 
revolution extends over four-fifths of the Island. 

Arms and Ammunition. 

it is not possible for the insurgents to fight in the towns along the 
coast, because they are guarded by Spanish war ships, still we have 
troops on the coast, and we are able to protect the landing of new- 
comers who are going to join our army, and also to land the arms 
and ammunition, which are continually being sent to the troops. 
Many of the firearms used by the insurgents have been captured by 
them from their enemies. Fourteen thousand rounds of ammunition 
were captured in one engagement alone. 

I think there are some Cubans who are anxious that their Island 
shall be annexed to the United States as soon as possible ; but there 
are many more, in fact a vast majority, who believe that the question 
of annexation is a long way off, and is not to be considered until 
the Cubans themselves have tried an independent government. This 
last-named class see no necessity for annexing Cuba politically to the 
United States, because she is already annexed to this country com- 
mercially. They see no reason why Cuba should form a part of the 
United States. When Cuba once secures her independence the 
Cuban people will then, through the exercise of the suffrage, decide 
the kind of government they v'U have. 



48 



WHY CUBA DEMANDS SELF-GOVERNMENT. 



It may possibly be that a majority of the people will decide thar 
they want the Island annexed to the United States, or the vote may 
show a desire on the part of the Cubans to be an independent nation. 
That question is only to be decided after independence has been 
secured. The first and foremost thing before us now is to get rid of 

the Spanish Government. When 
once that has been done and Cuban 
independence has been secured the 
question of annexation can be de- 
cided. 

We are now printing a pamphlet 
which will recite the causes of the 
war, the many grievances from which 
Cuba has suffered so long at the 
hands of Spain, and her determi- 
nation to rid herself of the Span- 
ish yoke. This history of Spanish 
rule in Cuba will be laid before our 
members of Congress. This will 
help them in their consideration of 
the Cuban question, and prove con- 
clusively that our cause is as just as 
was the cause of the Americans in the Revolution. 

There will be no argument about annexation. What we demand, 
what we must have first of all is independence. It is too late now to 
consider any scheme of home-rule, however feasible such a sugges- 
tion may have been in the past. " Independence " is the watchword 
of the Cuban, first, last and all the time. 

On the twenty-fourth of February, 1895, the delegates of the revo- 
lution adopted their Constitution, solemnly declaring the separation 
of Cuba from the Spanish monarchy and the constitution of Cuba, 
as a free and independent State, under the name of the Republica de 
Cuba. 

The officials of the New Republic were chosen as follows : Presi- 
dent, Salvador Cisneros Betancourt, Marquis of Santa Lucia ; Vice- 




BARTOLOME MASSO, 
Vice-President of the Cuban Republic. 



WHY CUBA DEMANDS SELF-GOVERN MENT. 49 

President, Bartolome Masso ; Secretary of War, Carlos Roloff; Dele 
gate and Minister Plenipotentiary, Tomas Estrada Palma ; General 
in-Chief of the Army, Maximo Gomez ; Lieutenant-General, Antonic 
Maceo ; Major-Generals, Serafln Sanchez, Francisco M. Carrillo. 

From the united voice of the American press, from resolutions 
offered in Congress, and every other possible source, there were 
expressions of sympathy for the " Queen of the Antilles " in her 
gallant struggle for liberty. The following poem aptly voices the 
feeling of the American people : 

For Cuba. 

Bi MAURICE THOMPSON. 

Have you heard the call from Cuba 

Coming northward on the breeze ? 
Have you seen the dark cloud hanging 

To the southward o'er the seas ? 

It is a gasp -for liberty, 

That shudders on the air ; 
Spain has relit her torture-fires, 

And men are writhing there. 

Oppression's tempest gathers force, 

Its tidal wave rolls high ; 
Old Europe's shadow dims the stars 

We kindled in the sky. 

The time is come for action, 

Now let the right prevail ; 
Shall all our boasted sympathy 

With slaves downtrodden fail ? 

Shall we be mockers of the faith 

By which our course was set ? 
Shall we deny what we received 

From men like Lafayette ? 

Help ! help ! the swarthy patriots cry, 

While Spaniards beat them down, 
Because they will not bend the knee 

To one who wears a crown. 



50 WHY CUBA DEMANDS SELF-GOVERNMENT. 

The hoary, mediaeval lie, 

That robes the power of kings, 
And rivets chains on bleeding hands. 

Once more its logic brings. 

At subtle diplomatic pleas 

Let free-born statesmen scoff; 
Poor, drowning Cuba grips our skirt, — 

Shall Freedom shake her off? 

Oh no ! fling out the fleet and flag, 

To shield her from the storm, 
And let that splendid Island feel 

The clasp of Freedom's arm. 

Early it became evident that there was a strong feeling throughout 
America, extending to our lawmakers at Washington, in favor of the 
Cuban cause. Senator Frye of Maine said : 

" If Spain, by her actions at any time, justified us in so doing, I 
would seize and hold Cuba against the world. This Island has been 
nothing but a sponge to be squeezed by Spain, utterly regardless of 
the interests of the people living there. Annexed to our country it 
would soon become a paradise. As the residents are entirely fit for 
American citizenship, I regard the acquisition of Cuba, as impera- 
tively demanded, commercially and politically." 

The revolution in Cuba was the subject of a good deal of anxious 
conversation among public men in Washington. The fact that the 
previous rebellion lasted for ten years, and cost such a large sum of 
money to Spain, which, however, she has since shouldered on Cuba, 
led many of the public men to believe that the present outbreak 
vrould be much more serious. It started out under much better con 
ditions than the last rebellion, and the fact that Spain was sending 
such a large body of troops to Cuba conclusively demonstrated to the 
, iviind of the public that the revolution was a very serious affair. 

While there was no disposition to act unfriendly to Spain, the sym- 
pathies of the public men in Washington were all with the Cubans. 
It was recognized that the Island had been outrageously treated by 
Spain and that the financial burdens imposed on it were more than 



WHY CUBA DEMANDS SELF-GOVERNMENT. 51 



the people could bear. Every fresh trouble would add to the burdens 
of Cuba because Spain makes Cuba pay the cost of putting down the 
revolution, and bear every item of expense incurred by Spain in be- 
half of Cuba. 

A prominent Senator remarked that sooner or later Cuba would be 
a part of the United States, and that while people might smile over 
the outspoken words of Senator Frye and Senator Call on the sub- 
ject, yet nine out of every ten members agreed with Mr. Frye and 
Mr. Call on this subject. 




LAND VIEW OF MORRO CASTLE. 



/ 



Owned by the United States, Cuba would be tremendously pros- 
perous and would save this country from importing from any other 
nation sugar, tobacco, oranges and other things now largely im- 
ported. This feeling would lead to a good deal of aid being given 
indirectly to the revolutionists. 

It was agreed that the Government would enforce the neutrality 
laws in every manner possible, but it would be absolutely impossible 
to prevent small expeditions from reaching Cuba from the coast ©f 
Florida. The Spanish Minister complained because munitions of war- 
were allowed to be shipped from the United States to Centra! Ameri- 



62 WHY CUBA DEMANDS SELF-GOVERNMENT. 

can States, when the Minister maintained that they were intended for 
Cuban revolutionists. But there is no law whatever to stop the sale 
of munitions of war during a time of peace, even to Cubans, and 
according to Spain, Cuba was now in a state of peace. Even custom- 
house officers were under a false impression in regard to this matter. 
If Spain should declare a state of war in Cuba then the circumstances 
would be different. 

Minister Murauga notified this Government that a torpedo boat* 
was being fitted out in the United States for West Indian waters, and 
asked that its departure be prevented. If this boat tried to leave the 
United States in a completed condition it might be seized, as a neutral 
government is bound to restrain the fitting out or sailing of armed 
cruisers of belligerents, as determined in the Alabama case. But in 
1879 Secretary Evarts ruled in reply to an inquiry from Secretary 
Sherman, that " a torpedo launch, in five sections, ready to be set up, 
though contraband of war, may be exported from the United States 
without breach of neutrality." 

From an Eminent American. 

Our Consul General, Ramon Williams, of Havana, sent to the State 
Department a remarkable argument against the continuance of Span- 
ish rule in Cuba and in favor of tariff independence. Reporting 
under date of February 5, 1895, regarding the American flour market 
in the Island, he wrote : 

"Spain is the only country beside the United States that now sends 
flour to the islands of Cuba and Puerto Rico. But its importation 
from Spain is done in violation of the natural economic law and at 
the expense of Cuba by lessening the purchasing power of her 
exports in their exchange for her imports ; for there is scarcely a 
vestige of natural economic tie remaining between these colonies and 
their mother country, statistics proving, particularly in the case of 
Cuba, that they have to send nearly all their exports for outlet to the 
United States, the beet sugar of Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, 
Holland, Russia and other countries having excluded the cane sugars 
of all the West India Islands as well as those of Brazil and the 



WHY CUBA DEMANDS SELF-GOVERNMENT. 53 

Hawaiian Islands from the markets of Europe, leaving them depen- 
dent on that of the United States. For the effects are tantamount to 
a second bounty wrought by Spanish legislation in favor of all other 
sugar-producing countries against Cuba and Puerto Rico." 

Consul General Williams closed his report by instituting a corri- 
parison between the present economic policy of Great Britain toward 
her sugar-producing West Indian possessions and that of Spain 
toward Cuba, greatly to the disparagement of Spain. 

Mr. Williams enclosed translations of articles published in leading 
newspapers of Cuba, and said : 

" These publications will likewise convey to the department samples 
of the public discontent prevailing here against the commercial sub- 
jection in which the island is still held by the mother country." 

Thousands of Troops. 

Patriotic Cuban circles were much excited over the coming 0/ 
General Martinez Campos with a couple of million dollars in cash, 
a lot of troops and a large personal prestige. It was the same old 
story of thousands of troops sent by the mother country to suppress 
Cuban insurrection. Without inquiring for the causes of the rebel- 
Jious feeling, and seeking a lasting remedy, one in keeping with 
justice and humanity, the answer to Cuba's revolution was guns and 
General Campos. When he arrived he issued from Santiago de 
Cuba a proclamation offering pardon to all insurgents, with the ex- 
ception of the leaders, who would lay down their arms and surren- 
der. He made preparations to immediately pursue the members o: 
the bands who refused to come in under the proclamation, and the 
warfare against them was to be waged vigorously. 

Governor- General Campos pledged himself to carry out all the 
promised political and economical reforms for the Island if he was 
supported. He thought, the rebellion would soon be crushed, but 
that the entire pacification of the Island would require a long time 
Campos warned the planters in the interior against aiding the 
insurgents. 

A newspaper correspondent had an interview with the new Captain- 



54 WHY CUBA DEMANDS SELF-GOVERNMENT. 

General of Cuba before he embarked for Manzanillo. He remained 
in Santiago de Cuba only two days, and nearly every moment of 
the time was occupied in making changes of military commanders, 
receiving deputations and holding consultations with subordinates 
General Campos said he understood that the press of the United 
States had sent several representatives to Cuba to study the situation. 
He felt gratified that there was a desire to obtain facts, and he wel- 
comed such investigation. Asked if he proposed to take the field, 




A REVOLUTIONARY OUTPOST. 

h« replied : " I expect to go everywhere. I intend to direct the 
movements of the army, and to conduct operations that will tend to 
secure law and order throughout the island." 

" Shall you remain here or go to Havana ?" 

The Marshal replied indirectly ; said he expected to leave Santiago 
that evening, but would return. 

" Are you taking any step in the " Allianca " affair? " 

The Captain-General shook his head slightly in a deprecating 
manner, and said the subject was being considered by Senor Dupuy 
de Lome, Spain's new Minister to Washington. " Seno~ Lome is a 



WHY CUBA DEMANDS SELF-GOVERNMENT. 55 

diplomat," the General remarked, " and the question is for the diplc 
mats of Spain and the United States to consider. Spain desires to 
be at peace with the United States and with all other nations." 

He was asked how many revolutionists are in the field. " There 
is no army," was the reply. " Small guerrilla bands are scattered 
about the interior at the eastern end of the Island. The country is 
thinly settled, and very difficult for an army to operate in. A few 
men who know the paths can roam about in the chapparal, and their 
capture is difficult. The United States had much trouble with 
guerrilla bands during the Civil War." 

He was asked what disposition would be made of the. members of 
xVIaceo's party, imprisoned at Guantanamo. The Marshal shook his 
head emphatically, and said rather quickly : " They are in the hands 
of the law" Then he added : " I do not propose to be severe with- 
out reason. When those in arms put them aside and submit, they 
will be well received." 

" How about the leaders ? " The Marshal answered by referring 
to his proclamation, in which amnesty was made the reward for sur- 
render, but the leaders were not included. The Captain-General, at 
the close of the interview, declined to issue to the correspondent a 
special permit to travel in the interior, but said : " The country is 
before you ; go and see for yourself. Your passport as a citizen o 
the United States will protect you in legitimate travel." 



CHAPTER IV. 
Beginning of the War. 

BETWEEN April I* and 12th, 1895, Marti and Gomez, the 
Cuban exiles, with a handful of companions, landed at Baracoa, 
on the eastern coast of Cuba, and proclaimed the republic. 
The effect of this bold move was instantaneous. The news spread 
from end to end of the Island, and although the friends of Cuba thought 
the movement ill-timed, hundreds of sympathizers flocked to the 
patriot standard. Like a prairie fire before a brisk breeze, the single 
spark of insurrection fired the dry tinder of the oppressed Cubans, 
and the rebellion grew in volume as it flew westward. 

This is not Spain's first experience of the temper of her colony. 
For the past seventy years conspiracy, insurrection, rebellion and red 
war have followed one another in endless progression. A few words 
will suffice to explain the causes leading up to the latest revolution. 

Cuba became a possession of Spain by the right of discovery on 
Columbus' second voyage. He named it Juana, after the son of 
Ferdinand and Isabella, and it has successively been known as Juana, 
Fernandina, Santiago, Ave Maria and Cuba, the latter being the 
native name of the u Queen of the Antilles." It was colonized by 
Spain, and its early history is a series of sacks and ravages by Euro- 
pean foes. Not until the rule of Captain-General Las Casas, begin- 
ning 1790, did prosperity begin. 

Under his guidance agriculture and commerce flourished, and the 
condition of the native population was ameliorated. The effect of 
his sagacious rule was felt for over thirty years, and when Napoleon 
deposed the royal family of Spain every member of the local govern- 
ment took oath to preserve the Island for their monarchy, and, going 
even further, they declared war against the French conqueror. This 
much to show the instinctive feeling of the colony toward the mother 
country. 



BEGINNING OF THE WAR. 57 

Spanish coffers were empty with the restoration of the Bourbons 
in the person of Ferdinand VII., and Spain's mistress looked with 
hungry eyes upon the rich Island with her 1800 miles of sea coast, 
gemmed with prosperous ports, and her plantations of indigo, sugar, 
tobacco and fruit. It was Fortunata's purse wherein Spain might 
dip her fingers, and forever find it full to overflowing. With this 
discovery came oppressive taxation. With the gradual impoverish* 
] ment of Spain came added demands. Then the deprivation of all 
civil, political and religious liberty, and the exclusion of Cubans 
from all public stations, and in order to enforce this the Cubans were 
taxed to support a standing army and navy — their jailors. 

Conspiracy of the "Black Eagle." 

With their oppression came their desire for liberty. In 1829 Lie 
Black Eagle conspiracy arose, the purpose of which was to throw off 
the Spanish yoke. It was suppressed, but was followed in 1840 by 
an insurrection of the colored population. After smouldering and 
blazing for a while the fires of insurrection were smothered only tc 
break out eight years later in a genuine conspiracy of the Cubans 
under the Jeadership of Narcisso Lopez. This rebellion was quelled, 
and Lopez fled. In 1850 he landed in Cuba with 600 men from Hie 
United States. He made a third attempt in 185 1, and together with 
most of his companions was captured and executed by the Spanish 
authorities. 

The Reformist party, which sprang up at this time, succeeded in 
getting an inquiry of the abuses at Madrid, with the result, however, 
of increased taxation. In 1868 the Advance party in Cuba rose in 
the district of Bayamo, and on October 10, 1868, signed a declaration 
of independence at Manzanillo. Their first successes were so great 
that almost all the Spanish-American republics recognized the insur- 
gents as belligerents. After a war of ten years, that was confined to 
';he mountainous regions east of the town of Puerto Principe, the 
rebellion was put down. To confine it to that locality the Spanish 
troops built a great fortified trench, known as La Trocha, across the 
entire width of the island, in the ■ western portion of the State of 



58 BEGINNING OF THE WAR. 

Puerto Principe. It was here that Captain-General Campos, the 
commander of the Spanish army, drew up his forces in the summer 
of 1895, to prevent the eastward march of the insurgents, who were 
now heavily reinforced. 

All during the summer of 1895 the insurgents leaders were organ- 
izing their forces and receiving supplies of arms and ammunition. 
The people were flocking to the standard of revolt, and during Octo- 
ber, 1895, Gomez and Maceo with ease penetrated the lines of the 
Spanish captain-general, crossing La Trocha, and causing the regular 
troops to *all back to a line just east of Remedios. The insurgents 
still pushing on, this was followed by a retreat of Campos to Sant? 
Clara, in the province of Santa Clara, still further west. 

Two Cuban Generals. 

Gomez and Maceo were now in supreme authority, for Marti, 
the great leader of the revolutionary party, died just as the command 
started west. This blow to the insurgent cause was more than offset 
by the character of the people among which they found themselves. 
Of all the provinces of Cuba, Santa Clara is the most outspoken and 
loyal to the cause of liberty. The ranks of Gomez and Maceo were 
increased by thousands of volunteers of an intelligence and physical 
strength superior even to those of Santiago. Horses were procured 
in abundance, and the bulk of the insurgent army was formed into a 
speedy and well-equipped cavalry. They were armed with rifles, and 
carried with them an abundance of ammunition. Each man also 
carried a machete, which is a long, heavily-weighted iron knife, used 
by the sugar-planters to cut the cane, and by all travelers to open up 
paths through the heavy tropical underbrush. They are terrible 
weapons in the hands of the Cubans, and the Spanish troops fear 
them more than the rifles. The insurgents took no supply train 
with them. A stray pig or fowl supplied them with supper, while an 
ox meant dinner for a company. Thus prepared, they turned their 
faces toward the setting sun and Havana. 

All this while Campos, the Spanish general, was " concentrating/' 
according to the official dispatches. In other words, he was drawing 



BEGINNING OF THE WAR. 59 

dead lines across the Island at points where he announced that he 
would bring the insurgents to a pitched battle. Each successive 
dead line was further west than the one preceding it. And each 
time the insurgents slipped by the troops, leaving a harried country 
behind them. Railroads, bridges and roads destroyed, plantations 
burned and store-houses empty. The troops, under the spur of 
necessity, followed as rapidly as possible, leaving the insurgents in 
possession of the country to the east. 

Landing of Expeditions. 

In this way not only did the Cubans make this remarkable march 
westward, but they garrisoned it. In Santiago the insurgents kept 
the Spanish forces in the fortified cities, and in a short time two large 
expeditions successfully landed at that end of the island. One, 
armed with cannon, fired upon and crippled the " Nueva Espana," of the 
Spanish navy, while such leaders as Rabi, Martinez and Aguirre were 
fighting as valiantly there as were Gomez and Maceo in the province 
">f Matanzas. 

Similar reports came from Puerto Principe and Santa Clara, show- 
ing that the insurgents had complete control of the interior of these 
provinces. But Campos claimed that it was his plan to get the 
insurgents between his forces and Havana and crush them as a nut is 
crushed in a nut-cracker. 

Then came decisive attacks by the insurgents. Campos was driven 
from pillar to post, changing his headquarters from Santa Clara to 
Cienfuegos, from Cienfuegos to Palmillas, from Palmillas to Colon, 
from Colon to Jovellanos, from Jovellanos to Limonare, from Limon- 
are to Guanabana, and from Guanabana to Havana, where he was 
feted as a conqueror by the Spanish authorities, and where he received 
telegrams of congratulation from the Queen Regent of Spain and her 
Prime Minister. 

Just prior to this noisy welcome, namely, on December 24, 1895, 
General Maximo Gomez, at the head of 1 2,000 men, by a feint turned 
the flank of the Spanish commander at Colon, and, passing the 
s^sepy old seaport of Matanzas, marched straight on to a point only 



60 BEGINNING OF THE WAR. 

fifty miles from Havana, Campos, with all his 80,000 picked Spanish 
troops, to the contrary notwithstanding Christmas and New Year 
were passed, and the insurgents were still there, marching and coun 
termarching in three columns, holding Spain at bay, and waiting foi 
additional supplies of ammunition and arms before pushing on. The 
grave question now was what the insurgents would do ? Havana was 
in an agony of suspense and preparing for a siege. The loyalty of 
the citizens was unquestionable, as well as that of the Grande Civil, 
or local militia. Campos and all his troops seemed unable to cope 
with the situation. It was believed that should the insurgents push 
on and take Havana, the defeat of Spain and the liberty of Cuba 
would arrive. 

A Concise History of the Struggle. 

These, in outline, are the main facts of Cuba's war during the firs^. 
year of its progress. The reader will be interested in another account 
from a war correspondent in Cuba, who had ample opportunity foi 
observation, and the accuracy of whose statements are unquestioned. 
Writing late in January, 1896, he says : 

" The question of the United States recognizing the belligerent 
rights of the new Cuban republic is now receiving so much attention 
that a dispassionate and unbiased account of the state of affairs in Cuba 
may help some to a better understanding of the situation. In view 
of the misleading information and exaggeration of facts given out, on 
one hand, by Cubans in America, and, on the other, of the mis- 
representation and concealment of truth by the representatives of the 
Spanish side, facts gathered from the scenes of the war and the seat, 
of its causes may throw light upon doubts which are entertained a.-? 
to the wisdom of America's policy up to this time. 

" The Cuban revolution is now within a Yew days of having turned" 
its first year. It has passed all the bounds of previous insurrection. 
It has passed from the stage of organized rioting into actual war. It 
is no longer limited to a conflict between classes, or confined to any 
section of the Island. It has become a war between two peoples who 
are distinct in all the characteristics which mark the differences 



BEGINNING OF THE WAR. 61 

between nations. The recent successes have resulted in the best 

blood of Cuba's native-born population joining or aiding Gomez's 

armies, and have brought the issue to a point which means that the 

price of Spanish victory would be almost inevitably the extermination 

of some great families and the utter devastation of the Island. 

" Such a victory would carry with it the accumulation of a wai 

debt which would impoverish Cuba for two generations, and leave her 

a burden rather than a precious possession for the so-called mother 

country. Without the benefits which would come to the Cubans as 

the result of such recognition as they ask from the United States it is 

impossible for the revolutionists to hasten the issue of the war, and as 

Spain cannot drive them unwillingly into battles, only some event now 

entirely unforeseen can prevent the prolonging of the war for possibly 

a year or more. 

The Two Armies. 

" Both sides are weak, so weak that the question of which can hold 
out the longer is as important as the result of battles, perhaps more 
important than the result of the insignificant engagements which now 
monopolize all the reports from the field. On the side of Spain is an 
army drawn from a native population of 16,000,000. On the side of 
Cuba is an army drawn from a native population of 1,600,000. Deal- 
ing with the mere numbers one reason is apparent why Gomez avoids 
battles into which he might throw his forces with a certainty of victory. 
It is hard for him to replace his losses. Unless the killed were 
nearly sixteen to one the ease with which Spain could fill the gap in 
her ranks where they were nearer equal would be his weakness and 
practically turn his victories into disasters. 

" Spain's army is made up of conscripts, unpaid, poverty-stricken s 
most of them too ignorant of military training to march in step at 
guard mount, and so youthful that regiment after regiment would not j 
have an average age of above nineteen years ; half-fed, with no com- 
missary department or surgical service available after battles; so 
tender to the climate that ten die of disease to one in conflict, and so 
neglected in the hospitals that the wounded generally die of yellow 
f ever contracted in the pest-houses to which they have been taken 



62 BEGINNING OF THE WAR. 

from the field, numbering with the Spanish Cuban volunteers recruited 
in the Island about 200,000 men ; 120,000 of these have come from 
Spain ; the other 80,000 are from the Island. Of them all, less than 
500 are cavalry, and of this 500 at least one-half are only mounted 
infantry. They are all well armed. In commanders, Spaniards and 
Cubans, in proportion to the numbers, are equally supplied with 
veterans. 

Fifty Thousand Native Cubans. 

" The Cuban army numbers 50,000, half of whom are in small 
divisions, under captains or colonels, acting upon orders and in cam- 
paigns devised by Gomez and Maceo. At least 25,000 of them are 
mounted, but only 25,000 of them, according to the most trustworthy 
information, are supplied with modern arms. But the whole 50,000 
are native Cubans, inured to the climate, safe in the fever season and 
unaffected by any hardship of march or exposure. Every farm 
estate and hut is their hospital. Every Cuban woman is a nurse for 
the wounded. Every farm and plantation is a source of food supply. 
Every Cuban is their guide and informant, prepared the next moment 
to lie like a Turk to a Spanish column. These 50,000 men are 
flushed with a year of almost uninterrupted successes, which have 
resulted in the downfall of one of Europe's greatest generals, 

" Now, at the end of only one year, they have the whole Island at 
their command, except its city strongholds, with the Spanish armies 
cut off from communication with each other except by couriers on 
horses or protected steamers along the coast. Every railroad is 
paralyzed. The following year's revenues to Spain have been prac- 
tically wiped out by the ruin of business and the destruction of the 
sugar cane. Havana itself has been declared by the captain-general 
to be in a state of siege. Gomez, with his army, has slept within 
sight of the city. 

" The events which have led up to all this make a simple chapter 
of Spanish disaster and of Cuban successes, with occasional reverses, 
during which the more or less guerrilla warfare conducted in the 
early stages has developed into scientific campaigns, and also in the 
biith,on the 16th of September, 1895, of the Republic of Cuba. The 



BEGINNING OF THE WAR. 63 

war was started through the failure of Spain to put into force reforms 
in tlie government of Cuba which had been granted by the Spanish 
Cortes, after a tremendous effort on the part of the Island to procure 
relief from intolerable evils. It is generally believed that the Cortes 
did not act in good faith, but from a pressure to prevent a revolt from 
what was simple tyranny, and that there was never any intention to 
permit the reforms to go into operation. 

" Calleja was then the Captain-General of the Island. He made a 
faint resistance when the first evidences ot the preparation Cuba had 
been making for insurrection came to the surface in Santiago de 
Cuba, the extreme eastern province of the Island, and the stronghold 
of former revolutions. It is a rough country, where it was supposed 
the trouble would be confined. He declared the province and that 
of Puerto Principe, adjoining, to be under martial law. 

Grand Uprising of Patriots. 

"Between April i and April 12, Generals Gomez, Antonio Maceo, 
Jose Maceo, Cebreco, Crombet, Guerra, Marti and Borrero landed 
with men and arms, and they were joined by thousands of Cubans, 
who brought out from hiding-places arms and ammunition which 
they had been collecting and concealing for years. It was already 
apparent to Spain that the insurrection was to be serious, and by 
this time General Campos, then her greatest military chief, was 
already on his way to the Island with 10,000 men. He landed on 
April 16, 1895, at Santiago de Cuba, and made the mistake which 
has cost Spain the war and may in the end cost her all Cuba. 

" He did not at once put the reforms in force, but announced that 
' after peace was restored ' he would ' do all in his power to see that 
the reforms which had been granted by the Cortes were put in force.' 
It is true that already another and greater object was inspiring the 
Cubans — the liberty they now demand ; but, if Campos had then, 
instead of waiting three months, till the insurrection had gone beyond 
his control, granted the relief to Cuba which the Cortes had author- 
ized, it would have almost inevitably resulted, notwithstanding what 
may be said outside of Cuba to-day to the contrary, in the restoration 



64 BEGINNING OF THE WAR. 

of peace, probably only temporary ; but his course precipitated into 
the conflict all the elements which he might have used to prevent it 

"At the end of three months Gomez and Maceo had all Santiago 
and Puerto Principe in a state of insurrection. They started out 
with comparatively a handful of men. The most reliable sources 
agree that there were not more than 300. Thousands of Cubans 
joined them, furnishing their own horses and arms. Campos had 
declared that Puerto Principe would never rise against Spain, and 
he proposed at once a plan to make it doubly sure. He procured 
special concessions from Madrid for the foreign railroads, permitting 
them to import iron bridges to replace their wooden structures, and 
pledged them $20,000 a month until they had extended their lines 
and made connections to complete a continuous road through the 
country, using the money to employ the natives. This was to insure 
the peace of Puerto Principe and Santa Clara, both considered con- 
servative, and to prevent the people joining the revolutionary party. 

War's Dire Destruction. 

" After the plan was announced the revolutionists burned out the 
wooden bridges, tore up the tracks in many places, and the roads 
have been, for all practical purposes, in their hands ever since. 
Campos, meantime, to prevent Gomez moving eastward, placed 
10,000 troops on the border between the provinces of Santiago and 
Puerto Principe, but Gomez crossed the line on May 19, after a battle 
at Boca del Dos Rios, where a loss was suffered in the death of Gen. 
Marti, which was so great a blow to Cuba that Campos announced 
that the ' death blow to the bandits ' had been struck. 

" In Puerto Principe Gomez captured every town he attempted to 
take, among them Alta Gracia, San Jeronimo and Coscorro. He 
took Fort El Mulato, and in all the places secured large quantities 
of ammunition. So enthusiastic was his reception in the provinces 
of Puerto Principe and Santa Clara that in the latter 400 Spanish 
volunteers joined him with their arms. Places in this province that 
fell in rapid succession were Las Veras, Cantabria, Fort Taguaso, 
Guenia de Miranda and Cayo Espino, 




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BEGINNING OF THE WAR. 65 

" The most important battle of the summer occurred at Bayamo 
in July, just as Gomez was near the Spanish line between Santa Clara 
and Puerto Principe. Campos decided to relieve the distress of the 
garrison at Bayamo and left Manzaniilo, intending, after entering the 
town, to move quickly westward, driving Gomez into the Spanish 
line, while three other columns were to surround Maceo. Botb 
bands were to be exterminated at once. On his way to Bayamc 
Campos was met by Maceo and Rabi at Peralajos, and in a twelve 
hours' battle, in which about 3,000 men were engaged on either side, 
Campos was completely routed. 

" From that time on through the summer and iar into the autumn, 
every day was marked by skirmishes, the taking of important places 
and the threatening of the larger towns. It kept the Spanish columns 
moving constantly, and the exposure in the rainy season killed thou- 
sands. It was, doubtless, Gomez's purpose to conduct his summer 
campaign to produce that effect, suffering nothing by it himself. He 
was then planning the great campaign of the winter, the execution 
of which resulted in the shutting up of Havana. He had accom- 
plished the destruction of all methods of communication in the 
interior, to the east, and had issued his order against the grinding of 
sugar cane, for the purpose of cutting off Spain's revenues, and had 
announced that he would take his army clear through into the 
Matanzas province to insure obedience to his order. 

" Amazing as this declaration was, it was fairly good evidence of 
Gomez's modesty. He had not only overrun Matanzas, but Havana 
province as well, burning plantations within sight of the city, where 
the owners disobeyed him, and finally subjugating thrr province 0/ 
Pinar del Rio, in the extreme west." 



CHAPTER V. 
Insurgent Campaign in Western Cuba. 

REFERENCE was made at the close of the preceding chaptei 
to the spirited warlike operations of the insurgents in West- 
ern Cuba. Carrying the war into this section was simply 
threatening Havana, and this was one object of the insurgent leaders. 
Gomez and Maceo. 

Enough of the history of the insurrection has been given t^» show 
the manner in which it was carried on during the first few months 
subsequent to the arrival of the Spanish General Campos and his 
army. All his boasts of conquest failed of fulfillment. He was slow 
to bring the insurgents to the point of battle, or if he did succeed in 
doing this, he failed utterly to accomplish his purpose of so vanquish- 
ing them as to stamp out what he was pleased to call the " Rebel- 
lion, 1 ' and bring the country into a state of peace and quietude. It 
is more than probable that some of the skirmishes ji which the 
Spanish troops claimed success were conducted by the insurgents 
more for the purpose of harassing Campos and his scattered forces 
than with the idea of obtaining any great substantial victory. 

General Gomez and his commanding officers had a full knowledge 
of the country, knew all the strategic points, also knew that they 
were greatly outnumbered by the Spanish forces, and that they had 
only to hold their ground without being completely overthrown, and 
the proud army of Spain would be, partially at least, defeated by dis- 
ease and the disastrous effects of the climate, to which they were not 
accustomed. Certain it is that after the operations of General Campos 
had been carried on for months, the insurgents were as strong and 
well-disciplined as ever, while in the provinces which they occupied 
they constantly received recruits from those dissatisfied spirits who 
were ready to join the patriot army in its daring and determined 
effort to throw off the Spanish yoke. 



INSURGENT CAMPAIGN IN WESTERN CUBA. 67 

In order to understand the progress of events, it is necessary tc 
describe the campaign of the insurgents in the province of Pinai 
del Rio. 

i When Gomez retired from this province he left Maceo there and 
took up a position east of the Spanish line, where he remained near 
but refused to give battle to the Spanish. He had been waiting for 
Maceo's work to be finished. All this time he has been within ten 
miles of Havana, and never more than twenty-five miles away. The 
highest officers in command of the field operations of the Spanish, 
commenting upon the strength of the new " wall of men," said that 
" if only Gomez were in so tight a place as Maceo, both would soon 
be wiped out, as they were hopelessly separated, Maceo burdened 
with wounded men, and Gomez between lines rapidly converging." 

A March of Repeated Victories. 

a he truth is that they had not endeavored to meet, but Maceo had 
gone to the extreme end of Cuba, occupying its most western city, 
driving the garrison of that town down to the shore, where they 
fought on the sand-beach, under the fire of a Spanish cruiser out at 
sea. Maceo's march had been one of repeated victories. Towns 
surrendered without resistance ; around others there were some slight 
encounters. Portions of several Spanish garrisons joined the revolu- 
tionists with their arms. 

More than 2,000 recruits were made. The new government was, 
established in the cities and towns of Mantua, San Cristobal, Remates, 
Palacios, Paso Real de San Diego, Guane, Consolacion del Sur, 
Pilotos, Alonso de Rojas, San Luis, San Juan y Martinez, and other 
less important places. 

The capital of the province, Pinar del Rio City, was the one place 
of great importance that held out, but it was cut off from commune 
cation with its port, Colon, and was short of provisions. One supply 
.sent by the Spanish for its relief, 100,000 rations, fell into Maceo's 
hands. 

Maceo's march began as soon as he had left Gomez, near the lower 
border, between Havana and Pinar del Rio provinces. He had 2,000 



68 INSURGENT CAMPAIGN IN WESTERN CUBA. 

mounted men, all armed, in divisions under Gens. Zayas, Varuna, 
Vivo and Gomez Rubio. Almost immediately the forces were 
divided, Maceo, with the main body, moving southwest, and a small 
division, under Varona, taking a western course through the northern 
country, to reunite with Maceo at the western extremity of the pro- 
vince. In this way it was designed to cover at once the sides of a 
great loop, embracing every important point in the province. 

The Spanish Forces Scattered. 

Gomez's retreat had been misunderstood by the Spanish, and when 
Maceo moved, the Spanish forces were scattered and unprepared to 
check him, being to the east, where they supposed the centre of 
operations was to remain, near Gomez. With trifling losses, and the 
wounding of but a handful of his men, Maceo entered Candelaria and 
San Cristobal on the same day, the third of his march. 

In San Cristobal the Spanish flag on the government building was 
replaced by the emblem of the new republic, a mayor and city officials 
were appointed, resolutions were adopted by the new authorities, and, 
after all the arms in the town had been collected, and forty or fifty 
mounted recruits had been made, Maceo remained a day to rest his 
men and horses, and moved on the following morning at daybreak 
toward Palacios, just north of which lies Banos de San Diego. He 
took both these places, and the same scenes were repeated, the people 
decorating their houses and flying white flags from every roof as a 
token of their allegiance to the cause. 

By this time the Spanish saw the trend of Maceo's plans, and 
Generals Nevarro and Luque were ordered to pursue the insurgent 
army, reinforcements at the same time being ordered to Pinar del Rio 
City. The garrison at Guanajay was strengthened, and an additional 
force was dispatched from Havana to proceed on a steamer along the 
south coast to Columa, to reach Pinar del Rio, if possible, before 
Maceo had arrived. 

Nevarro made all haste, but was not out of sight of Guanajay, 
where he had left the terminus of the railroad, before he came upon 
burning cane fields, whose owners had disobeyed Gomez's prociama- 



INSURGENT CAMPAIGN IN WESTERN CUBA. 69 

tion against grinding. Navarro and Luque had together 5,000 
infantry, 200 cavalry and 1 1 pieces of artillery. They found that the 
cattle had been gathered up by insurgents or hidden by their owners, 
but, learning that Maceo was at least two days' march ahead, they 
were able to move with freedom, and by forced marches came to the 
San Juan del Rio sugar estate, where the next day General Navarro 
met General Arizon's command, which had encountered Maceo's rear 
guard the previous day. Arizon had lost, as nearly as can be learned, 
five men, and had several wounded, and was waiting there to join 
Navarro's division. 

General Navarro had sent a detachment after the smaller body of 
insurgents moving on the north, but further than a few encounters 
with some small bands, which may have been either skirmish lines or 
independent companies of insurgents, their pursuit was fruitless, and 
they arrived at Cabanas, on the north coast, the day after the insur- 
gents had taken the place, disarmed the volunteer garrison, secured 
11,000 rounds of ammunition, and retired with the loss of two men. 
This loss was confirmed by the Spanish official reports. 

Fled in Disorder. 

To come back to General Navarro, after being joined at the San 
Juan estate by Arizon's command, he moved on toward Quivera 
Hacha, and near there came up to Maceo, who had meantime estab- 
lished the insurgent government in Consolacion and Rio Hondo, and 
was preparing to move upon Pinar del Rio City. Near Quivera 
Hacha Navarro's skirmishers encountered a small band of mounted 
insurgents. There was rapid firing, and almost instantly 400 of the 
insurgents rode down upon Navarro's extreme vanguard, under Lieu- 
tenant La Torre, and came within fifty yards, shouting " Machete,' 
firing but few shots and retiring without attacking. 

The cry of " Machete," the name of the half-sword-like weapons 
which the Cubans use with such deadly effect in much of their 
fighting, terrified the Spanish, and considerable disorder followed. 
Fearing that all Maceo's army was at hand, lines of battle were 
quickly formed, the main body being well protected by a cactus 



70 INSURGENT CAMPAIGN lN WESTERN CUBA. 

fence. Two divisions were deployed right and left in cane fields, part 
of which had been burned. About 1,000 of Maceo's men were on 
higher ground, and although firing lasted twenty minutes, the losses 
on either side were not serious when the insurgents withdrew. None 
■sf Nevarro's cavalry or artillery took part in the action. 

The Spanish followed them, prepared for an ambush at any 
moment, as the cane and underbrush were dense, but reached the 
Begona sugar estate safely, where, coming out into the open, they 
were within sight of 1000 of Maceo's men, two miles southwest, 
moving away. The Spanish during the day lost, according to the 
best information from both sides, about twenty-five men killed and 
wounded. Regarding Maceo's losses the Spanish report said: "The 
rebels must have lost several men." 

Gen. Maceo at the Front. 

The Cubans say they did not lose a man, and no dead were found 
on the field. At the Begona estate Gen. Navarro learned that he had 
been engaged with only a small part of Maceo's forces, and that the 
main command was at the Armendares estate. 

The seat of operations at once changed to the vicinity of Pinar del 
Rio, Gen. Luque succeeding Gen. Navarro in command of the aggres- 
sive movements against Maceo, who, learning of the relief being sent 
to the city, tried to intercept it, probably in expectation of the valu . 
able capture which he subsequently made. His rapid progress with 
his cavalry, the Spanish following on foot, of course resulted in 
several days passing without an engagement. The first encounter 
took place on January 17, 1896, about five miles south of the city. 
It was nothing more than a skirmish, neither side suffering, and that 
night Gen. Luque left part of his forces at the village of St. Luis, 
through which Maceo had passed two hours ahead of him. He took 
his main body to Pinar del Rio. 

During the night he learned that Maceo had taken a position at 
Tirado, commanding the road to Coloma, between Pinar del Rio and 
the coast. It was over this road that the wagon train from the coast 
was to bring up the supplies to Pinar del Rio. General Luque 



INSURGENT CAMPAIGN IN WESTERN CUBA. 7i 

hastened at daylight to drive the insurgents back, but found Maceo 
strongly entrenched within three miles of the city. This was the 
morning of the 18th. 

Luque came upon Maceo's vanguard under Colonel Velasco, but 
the moment the attack was made he found himself under fire from 
the tops of two low hills on both sides of the road, where the insur- 
gents were well protected. They were in such an advantageous posi= 
tion that Luque sustained severe losses without inflicting much injury 
upon the enemy. So hot was the encounter that Luque withdrew 
and prepared to charge upon two points where the enemy were mak- 
ing a stand. With the San Quintin battalion he held the road, send- 
ing Colonel Hernandez to the right, while another division advanced 
on the left. The attack was successful. The Spanish made a magni- 
ficent effort under the withering fire, but both divisions swept Maceo's 
forces before them, not, however, until thty had left the field scattered 
with their own dead and wounded. 

The Spanish General Surprised. 

For some reason the cavalry had not been used. The artillery was 
just coming up when the action had reached this point. The Spanish 
found that the enemy had, instead of being routed, simply fallen back 
and taken a position on another hill, and scattered firing went on for 
a considerable time, while Luque prepared to attack again. Then, 
against two thousand of Maceo's men, was directed all of Luque's 
command, over four thousand infantry, two hundred cavalry and 
eleven pieces of artillery. 

At least half of Maceo's army, certainly not less than two thousand 
cavalry, had been moving to Luque's rear and came upon him, sur- 
prising him just as this second attack was being made. 

For a time it was a question whether Luque's command would not 
be wiped out. They were practically surrounded by Maceo's men, 
and for fully an hour and a half the fighting was desperate. It is 
impossible to unravel the stories of both sides so as to arrive at a 
clear idea of the encounter. Hernandez's right wing had been 
weakened by the withdrawal of part of the San Quintin battalion, 



72 INSURGENT CAMPAIGN IN WESTERN CUBA. 

and when five companies of the insurgents fell upon him he suffered 
so quickly that Luque sent two battalions to his assistance. Her- 
nandez then succeeded in gaining the hill, where one division of the 
insurgents was stationed, but not until a cavalry charge had been 
repelled and seven pieces of the artillery had been turned upon it. 

When the cannonading ceased four companies of infantry charged 
up the hill and occupied it before the insurgents, who had been 
driven out by the artillery, could regain it. Shortly the hill on the 
left of the road was taken in the same way, and Luque, although at 
a great loss, had repelled Maceo's attack from the rear. 

The insurgent forces then withdrew to a piece of woods and made 
another stand about a quarter of a mile from the field where the 
fight had taken place. General Luque, however, withdrew his 
shattered forces to Pinar del Rio. 

The battle had lasted from 9.15 to 11.30. Maceo had about forty 
of his men wounded and left four dead on the field, taking away ten 
others. Twenty or more of his horses were killed. The Spanish 
reported that he had 1,000 killed ; the next day reduced the numbei 
to 300, and finally to the statement that " the enemy's losses must 
have been enormous " — the usual phrase when the true number is 
humiliating. Luque's loss has never been officially reported. It is 
variously estimated between fifty and one hundred men, but his 
defeat was severest in the failure to save the supply train. Seventeen 
loaded wagons and twenty pack mules carrying 100,000 rations and 
perhaps 10,000 rounds of ammunition were in Maceo's hands at the 
end of the fight. 



CHAPTER VI. 
Downfall of General Campos. 

WHEN the Spanish government sent tens of thousands oi 
troops to Cuba, it evidently imagined the revolution would 
soon be smothered. General Campos had shown his 
prowess and military skill on many occasions and was considered the 
ablest commander in the Spanish army. It was thought that he 
would soon be able to overtake the insurrection and quench its fires. 
We have arrived now at a point where his complete failure must be 
recorded. 

It was made plain that he had a larger contract on hand than he 
was able with all his hosts to carry out. Repeated dispatches had 
been sent abroad telling of his military movements and successes, 
but after he had been nine months in Cuba, the stubborn fact still 
remained that he did not hold the Island, and the fires of the revolu- 
tion were burning higher and brighter than ever. The insurgents 
roamed over many parts of the Island at their own sweet will. Their 
leaders had not been captured and the promised era of peace had 
not come. 

Secret expeditions from the United States had landed on the Cuban 
shores in spite of all the vigilance of Spanish ships on the sea and 
armed bodies of troops on land. Such aid was likely to be furnished 
to an unlimited extent. The sympathy of high officials in our 
government with the cause of Cuba was pronounced and emphatic. 
Arms and ammunition in some mysterious way were constantly 
shipped, and the spirit of revolution was fanned by the national senti- 
ment of the United States. General Campos could not do impossi- 
bilities. The stars in their courses were fighting against him. The 
government at Madrid became dissatisfied, censorious, and was ready 

to recall its favorite general as unequal to the situation. The old 

73 



74 DOWNFALL OF GENERAL CAMPOS. 

Spanish element in Cuba, sympathizing with the mother country, 
became restless and turbulent. The war was costing immense sums 
of money and nothing apparently was being gained. Heavier taxes 
would have to be imposed upon the people of Cuba, and this, together 
with the destruction caused by the movements of both the Spanish 
and the Cuban armies, frightened the people in the large towns and 
caused them almost to rise in rebellion, not merely against the insur- 
gents, but against the home government. 

About the middle of January, 1896, there was, at Havana, a strong 
feeling of distrust. On the Exchange the anti-Spanish sentiment was 
shown in something like seditious utterances. Several colonels and 
officers of volunteers who were present made speeches against Cap- 
tain-General Campos, and a general protest was expressed against his 
military inactivity and over-humane policy 

Proposition to Lynch the C^-piain-General. 

One major of volunteers proposed that Campos be either forced to 
resign or be lynched, and the speech was met by cheers from various 
Spanish merchants. The majority of the representatives of Spanish 
business houses present signed a petition to close the Exchange, and 
many favored closing the stores as a protest against Campos' perman- 
ence in the Island. 

A delegation from the volunteer corps' officers waSw named to wait 
on Campos and insist that Pando be called and given full military 
command and that Campos either radically change his political policy 
or else resign the governorship. The Spanish sentiment against him 
was increasing hourly, and trouble was feared. Several foreign ves- 
sels in the port, by the direction of their consignees, suspended the 
discharge of their cargoes, awaiting the outcome of the affair, 

Lieutenant-General Marin was hurriedly called from Matanzas, and 
had a consultation with the Captain-General. Campos depended 
upon the regular forces and upon the fleet to support him in the event 
of trouble, but there were few troops in Havana, most of the columns 
being out after Gomez and Maceo, and, unfortunately, all the warships 
were away cruising up and down the coast. 



DOWNFALL OF GENERAL CAMPOS. 75 

A significant editorial appeared in the " Diario de Marino," the 
organ of the Reformist party, saying that the country and business 
circles could not longer stand the crisis, and openly intimating that if 
Campos could neither crush the revolution nor effect immediate peace 
the time had come for a new trial, as no time must be lost in the face 
of the growing strength of the rebel movement. 

The next news was that Director-General Martinez Campos had 
decided to retire from the command of the Spanish forces in Cuba 
and from the direction of the campaign against the insurgents. This 
decision was arrived at after his conference with representatives of 
the three political parties in Cuba, when he found that two out of the 
three were unalterably opposed to him and his methods. General 
Martinez Campos did not tell the committee immediately of his 
decision, but it was understood that he was positive about it, and that 
his successor would probably assume command of the Spanish army 
as military governor of Cuba in a short time. 

The General's Decision. 

It was understood that at the conference General Campos asked 
each of the leaders his opinion. The leader representing the Auton- 
omist party expressed complete satisfaction with the conduct of the 
campaign, but the leaders of the Reformists and Conservatives ex- 
pressed contrary opinions. General Campos at the conclusion of the 
conference, informed the committee of his decision to consult the 
government at Madrid. 

A more detailed account of the Spanish General's failure was 
given under date of Jan. 16th, as follows : 

" More grave, every hour, is the state of affairs here, if the feeling 
of the people is a true barometer. Events now occurring are caus- 
ing a loud protest against Campos' method in carrying on the war, 
and since Gomez has escaped from what Spain believed was a trap in 
which his downfall was inevitable he is spreading uninterrupted ruin 
ivherever he goes. Spaniards are both angry and discouraged. And 
the Cubans in Havana are more cautious in their conversation not to 
*ay too much to reveal their interest in the insurgent victories. 



76 DOWNFALL OF GENERAL CAMPOS. 

" A demonstration was made in Havana yesterday, whi^h the 
censorship has not yet permitted to be published in the local papers 
or sent out on the cable. A newspaper, the ' Diario de la Marina,' 
the most conservative organ, notwithstanding the Spanish control of 
all publications, published a strong editorial criticising as bitterly as 
the most diplomatic phrases could express, the fruitless results of the 
methods being used to ' suppress the rebels,' and, pointing to the 
gravity of the situation, declared, reservedly, that public opinion had 
reached such a stage that it could no longer refrain from giving ex- 
pression to the general conviction that heroic measures should be 
adopted at once. 

Bold Move by Spanish Merchants. 

" This was followed later in the day by a meeting of the Produce 
Exchanges, in which, though its session was supposed to be ex- 
ecutive, it is said a number of the merchants of the city participated. 
Some lively scenes occurred, and the body reached the point of pass- 
ing resolutions condemning the methods of Campos, when they were 
side-tracked by a proposition that the merchants, in a body, should 
surrender their houses to the government and close their places of 
business as a more effective expression of their dissatisfaction. Busi- 
ness is being ruined. Prices are at war figures. 

" Money is scarce, and to make clearer what may have forced 
others to join in the protests it may be mentioned that the bonds of 
the railroads are practically abandoned by the companies owning 
them, sold recently above par, and to-day, when offered by a man 
forced to sell, found no bidder at 50. The meeting of the merchants, 
however, adjourned without action after it was decided to make no 
further manifestation of displeasure for the moment than to compli- 
ment the newspaper mentioned for the stand it had taken. 

" Only two weeks ago, when Campos returned from his unsuccess- 
ful pursuit of the rebels, the same merchants joined a great de- 
monstration on the streets of the city, expressing the confidence of 
all parties in the wise methods of the Government and the ultimate 
successful crushing out of the revolution. That indicates the change 



DOWNFALL OF GENERAL CAMPOS. 77 

of public sentiment and the increasing gravity of affairs. The 
majority, however bitter the criticism, seem to hesitate in demanding 
the retirement of Campos from the leadership, but express their 
desire that he shall change his methods and aggressively force an 
issue with the insurgents. 

" A significant thing about it is that they do not offer one sugges- 
tion. If Campos, exercising the authority he possesses, command- 
ing a besieged city, were to call these men before him and say, 
' What shall I do ? ' they would retire as much at sea as they de- 
clare him to be. Chasing cavalry with poor infantry, when the 
troops are as well mounted as Gomez's forces, and as skillful in 
separating into several divisions, which flee in as many directions, to 
congregate later in a country they know so perfectly, is what Campos 
has been doing for a long time. And he has not met with marked 

success. 

Indignant Protests. 

" The protests are arising from the representative merchants of 
Havana. There are some of the richest and most prominent men of 
the Island in their number. All three parties, rigid as are their lines 
in other matters, are united on this point. They are old Conserva- 
tives who have long stood for almost anything, provided Spain was 
uppermost; the Reformists who demand more and want certain 
liberties for Cuba, and the Autonomists, who claim that they would 
retain Spanish sovereignty, but want Cuba to largely govern herself 
with an autonomy in reality, which Spain has in the past promised, 
but never fulfilled. These protests may move Campos to change his 
n:ethods, even if he can devise any change that is promising, but it is 
probable that if any concerted effort is made to close the business 
places of Havana, he will deal summarily with the men who engage 
in it. 

" He has manifested a disposition to do this already. When the 
railroad companies decided to suspend operations, he called the 
general manager before him. In a stormy interview which occurred, 
Campos, it is declared, said, ' If you attempt to do so, I'll seize all 
your property and use it for our own facilities,' The reply is said to 



78 DOWNFALL OF GENERAL CAMPOS. 

have been : ' We wish you would if it will end the war. But the 
Government has not protected us ; many of our engines are wrecked, 
our cars burned or destroyed in derailments, viaducts and tracks 
torn up, we can go no further alone without being ruined.' " 

Thus it will be seen that there was widespread dissatisfaction with 
General Campos. To add to the general discontent, news came of 
another success gained by the insurgents. The details of the taking 
of the seaport Cabanas, on the north coast, west of Havana, were 
now coming in and being discussed in the city with more than usual 
interest. Of course it indicated that nearly all that was heard at first 
was more or less untrue. The burning of so many buildings in the 
large town of Bejucal, almost in sight of Havana, was given less 
importance now than the Cabanas incident, because Cabanas is a sea- 
port, and the contention from the beginning was that the rebels had 
D~ver taken a seaport, or at least one of any importance. 

Wild Charge of Cavalry. 

Gomez, it was now known, descended upon the town and 
demanded its surrender. The garrison refused. The gunboat 
" Alerta " was in the bay, and there were marines on shore for their 
assistance. Gomez's lieutenant, a dashing young fellow of about 
thirty, was fired on when he approached with the message, but he 
retired jeering at the soldiers who fired so wildly that not one shot 
took effect. Gomez's cavalry, it is said about 2,000 strong, 
descended with a rush on the city, and, invading the streets, drove 
the Spanish troops into the church. 

The firing was resumed from the roof and tower of the church, but 
Gomez's men succeeded in setting fire to the structure, and the regu- 
lars were forced to surrender. Meanwhile the gunboat also retired. 
It stopped farther out in the bay, and, according to the Spanish 
reports, " placed several perfectly directed shells into the city, doing 
terrible execution." Gomez retired after he had sacked the town 
and burned a part of it, having taken 11,000 rounds of ammunition 
and a considerable quantity of arms. Despite the demonstration 
made over the marksmanship displayed by their gunboat, the gov- 



DOWNFALL OF GENERAL CAMPOS. 79 

ernment reported that only two rebels had been killed. No mention 
was made in the official reports about the loss on the Spanish side. 

These details were not reassuring in Havana, because it was said 
by one of the leading Spanish residents of the city : " Gomez began 
by simply burning some cane fields in the far eastern end of the 
Island. Then he began to destroy great estates. Then he moved 
all over the Island. He began to burn little villages, and now he is 
not only taking such places as Bejucal, with 8,000 inhabitants, but 
has captured a seaport, occupied it as long as he wished and retired 
with rich booty. It is bad and growing worse. Great things must be 
done at once." 

Another Important Capture. 

In addition to this, word came into the city that another important 
town of 3,000 population had been taken and burned. Although 
Gomez was supposed to be still east of Havana, since his escape 
through " the wall " of men across the narrow part of the island, the 
town was San Jose de la Yeargas, west of Havana, in the province of 
Pinar del Rio, which Gomez invaded when his capture was planned. 
The report was even admitted as a" rumor " by some of the Spanish, 
whose admission that a rumor is circulating does not generally occur 
until after the exaggerated reports which the Cubans have been 
spreading have pretty generally been accepted as carrying more or 
less fact. It was said that the town was partially destroyed after the 
garrison had been driven out, and that the loss of life on both sides 
was small. 

The truth about Gomez's successful operations within sight, almost, 
of Havana had not been permitted to go out by cable. He had been 
so successful that amazement hardly expressed the feeling of the 
Spanish. About ten days before this the statement reached the 
world that Campos had Gomez trapped ; that the rebels had left the 
mountains at last and entered the open country in the narrow western 
province of Havana, on their way into the extreme western province 
of Pinar del Rio ; that Campos had thrown " a wall of men " suddenly 
across the Island west of Havana from near Guanajay to the south 
coast and had hemmed in Gomez and his w band of raiders," cutting 



80 DOWNFALL OF GENERAL CAMPOS. 

them off from their eastern strongholds, so that it was only a question 
of days before the whole outfit would be shot down or the residue 
marched into Havana with a bayonet at every man's back. 

It was not made clear why Campos was in Havana when Gomez 
was crossing the open country back of the city. The Spanish said he 
stayed in the city because it was necessary to the laying of the trap. 
The Cubans pointed to the reason in the short campaign which 
Campos made some days before. His generals had been receiving 
his daily instructions to "go out and find the rebels; hunt them up 
and make them fight." They had been coming home empty-handed 
so long that he became dissatisfied and went out, saying : " I'll show 
you how." 

He went eastward with a considerable column and met Gomez 
himself at Mai Tiempo. There was not a pitched battle, but some 
severe fighting occurred with the rear-guard, Gomez avoiding a decisive 
issue by his peculiar tactics in battle. At any rate Campos moved his 
headquarters next night toward Havana — " fell back," the Cubans 
called it. Campos called it an " advantageous change in the base of 
operations." 

Fell Back to Havana. 

The rebels continued their skirmishing and there were encounters 
where a couple of thousand men on each side were engaged, and the 
next night Campos fell back again. The next day came no change. 
It began to look as if Campos experienced less trouble than his 
generals in finding rebels, and for the third time Campos moved his 
quarters back nearer Havana. The next day he arrived in the city. 

The Cubans said that Campos on his arrival was unstrung, that he 
declared the situation graver than he had before believed it to be. 
Some who were in the streets watching the return of the troops con- 
firmed this, or refused to discuss it. And the Spanish said that Campos 
returned because he believed that Havana was to be attacked by the 
insurgents, and the defense of only 20,000 troops made it necessary 
for him to throw his column into the city at once. The Cubans called 
this a retreat. 

It was when Campos was in the city, whatever the real cause may 



DOWNFALL OF GENERAL CAMPOS. 81 

have been, that Gomez came within a dozen miles of Havana, burning 
villages and plantations right and left, cutting the railroad lines as he 
had been doing further out, and driving out after disarming the gar- 
risons he found defending them. When Gomez got into the west he 
found the whole country ready to receive him. He was soon joined 
by mors of his troops, and while all accounts vary it is fairly probable 
that he had 4,000 cavalry with him when Campos threw the " wall of 
men " across the island, and the censor permitted it to be announced 
to the world that the trap had been sprung. 

The Garrison Surrenders. 

The trap was still set, but Gomez passed "the wall " captured 
Bejucal, a town of 8,000 people only twelve miles south of the city, 
and was again east of Havana. Various reports were coming in 
about the taking of the city, most of them agreeing only that Campos 
left a strong garrison there, that it surrendered with slight resistance, 
and that the railroad station in the centre of the city, with thirty-five 
buildings, was burned. There was not the slightest doubt in Havana 
after the capture of Bejucal and the new move of Gomez occurred, 
that information of the movements of Gomez's generals indicated the 
gathering of ten or twelve thousand insurgent cavalry within the 
provinces of Matanzas and Havana. 

The Spanish, in the information which they permitted Havana to 
receive, but cut off from the rest of the world, made no concealment 
of their alarm, although they would not of course permit any ex- 
pression of just what they feared would occur. Yet they declared 
that they wished for nothing so much as a chance for a decisive battle. 

Meanwhile, divisions of the Cuban army were apparently hurrying 
eastward to join Gomez. That they were doing so for some other 
purpose than to rescue Gomez was apparent from the nature of their 
progress. Gomez had no difficulty in carrying to a successful issue 
his western campaign and went back through " the wall " out of the 
trap without even one battle. Now, the troops he left behind had been 
ordered to join Maceo, and the first of them reached Matanzas undet 
General Cespedes. They were less than one hundred and fifty miles 
6 



82 DOWNFALL OF GENERAL CAMPOS. 

from Havana. Generals Jose Maceo and Rabi, with other divisions 
between Puerto Principe and Santa Clara, moved all in the same 
direction toward Gomez, but their progress was not made as if they 
had in mind at any time a fear for Gomez's safety while west of 
'Havana. The Cubans said 25,000 mounted men were in these 
'divisions. They may have had 10,000, but the insurgents were 
almost without exception finely mounted. 

Furthermore, they controlled all the railroads in Cuba. They cul 
up the lines, burned bridges, destroyed rolling-stock, and ruined the 
business of the roads. Within a few hours they notified the engi- 
neers and conductors of the trains still moving on a few sections that 
they would be shot if they carried Spanish troops again. 

No Protection from the Government. 

The Spanish troops might man their own trains ; but the first 
event to follow the new order was the announcement that the rail- 
road companies would no longer attempt to repair their tracks or 
viaducts. They lost all their traffic and spent thousands upon 
thousands of dollars in repairing breaks, but the Spanish Govern- 
ment neither protected them nor gave them even a Spanish promise 
to pay the loss. Of course, considering the claim that the Cubans 
were rioters and raiders, and that actual war did not exist, the com- 
pany expected the protection of the State from rioters. 

From this time on the railroads were solely in the hands of the 
Spanish Government, theoretically ; of the insurgents, practically. 
This action of the companies, which are largely owned by foreign 
investors, is received in Havana as significant of more than the mere 
deserting of a losing enterprise. 

With affairs at this point the question at once arose whether the 
event for which all the world was waiting, the capture of Havana, 
was possible for Gomez, and whether Gomez would make the attempt 

Gomez, in all probability, could have taken Havana. It is just as 
certain that Gomez knew the chances of his success in an attack. 
The question to be settled was whether he wished to do so. 

He had done about everything he had said he would do since the 



DOWNFALL OF GENERAL CAMPOS. 83 

first wave of the revolution gathered itself at the eastern end of the 
Island in February, 1895, for the sweep it had just finished in the 
western extremity. Yet he did not hold one large city. One hun- 
dred and thirteen thousand Spanish soldiers from abroad and 80,000 
volunteers from the Island (according to the Spanish official figures) 
were holding the cities and towns of greater importance in every 
province. Gomez had not made serious efforts to capture any of the 
strongly garrisoned places. He filled the very streets and houses of the 
cities, however, with smoke from the blazing plantations outside, and 
passed and repassed with his troops in sight of the Spanish colors, 
but the Spanish defended the cities successfully, they said. 

A Most Successful Advance. 

Gomez has never attacked them. He may have exhibited great 
wisdom in not doing so. The Spanish say he did. Gomez always 
disappointed Campos. His progress from Cape Maysi to Cape San 
Antonio had been so successful, so skillful in tactics, so resourceful in 
avenues of retreat when they were temporarily necessary, and his 
objects were so uniformly attained, that it will be one of the greatest 
chapters in a new nation's history of its birth. The ease and apparent 
lack of seriousness with which he walked into Campos' trap and then 
talked out again is but one of a score of instances showing how his 
generalship proved to be more suitable to the exigencies of Cuban 
warfare than that of his enemies. 

Therefore no reason exists for accepting the supposition of the 
Spanish that Havana was secure from attack so long as all the other 
cities on the Island were safe in Spanish possession. And a part of 
the alarm which was feK: in Havana following the unexpected massing 
of Gomez's armies was due to the suspicion that he would possibly 
again execute exactly the opposite move from what the Spanish 
generals anticipated. 

The foregoing facts and circumstances will give the reader a clear 
idea of the reasons which led to the recall of General Campos. He 
was unable to suppress the revolution, which had taken a firm hold 
on a large part of the Island. The more insurgents he condemned 



84 DOWNFALL OF GENERAL CAMPOS. 

and executed, the more came forward to fill their places and risk 
everything in the cause of freedom. In many instances when he suc- 
ceeded in getting into close quarters with his foes, they eluded him 
and slipped from his grasp. 

The home government grew impatient and began openly to proclaim 
his incompetency. Realizing this and feeling that he was unequal to the 
task assigned him, General Campos signified his willingness to retire 
from the field. The government at Madrid believed that his measures 
were not sufficiently severe and thorough. It was much easier three 
thousand miles away to imagine how a war should be carried on than 
it was to win the battles on the ground. With a public demonstra- 
tion and a show of regret General Campos left the Island. 



CHAPTER VII. 
General Weyler in Cuba. 

THERE was a good deal of consternation in Cuban circles when 
it was announced that General Weyler was to be made Captain- 
General, and would soon appear to take charge of the Spanish 
army, and would suppress the revolution with a strong hand. He 
had been in Cuba before. He was there during the ten years' war, 
beginning in 1868. He gained the reputation of being an active, 
spirited commander. He also gained the reputation of being a 
butcher. His bloody acts followed him. It was believed that his 
reputation for wholesale butchery was the sole reason for his being 
sent to ^!uba at this time. 

But where were all the loud boasts of General Campos and 
Spanish officials that the fires of the revolution would soon be 
quenched and it would require but a few months to restore the Island 
to peace and tranquillity ? It was plain that the insurrection was 
working mightily in the blood of the people. The sense of v/rong, 
the memory of cruel deeds, a long and wearying oppression, the im- 
poverished condition of the Island had stirred the spirit of Cuban 
patriots. So, at the end of a year's conflict, Cuba was still in arms» 
fighting for independence. 

The steamer "Alfonso XIII." arrived at Havana, Feb. 10, 1896, 
having on board General Valeriano Weyler, the new Captain-General 
of Cuba ; and Generals Enrique, Barges, Federico, Ochando, Miguel 
Melguiso, Marquis Ahumada, Luis Castellvi, Sanchez Bernal and 
Juan Arolas, the latter being the well-known hero of Jolo, Philippine 
Islands. 

The entire city was brilliantly decorated in honor of the occasion, 
and the bay was a splendid sight, ail the warships and merchant craft 
present being decorated with bunting. The wharfs were crowded 

86 



GENERAL WEYLER IN CUBA. 87 

with people at an early hour, and all the steamers and tugs were 
loaded with sight-seers. The Chamber of Commerce, the Bourse, all 
the big commercial houses and Government Departments, the Canar- 
ian Association, General Weyler's countrymen and others, crowded 
upon the chartered steamers or about the landing-place. 

The troops and volunteers were turned out to a man, together with 
the fire department and police, and for a long time no such brilliant 
display had been witnessed in Havana. Among the high military 
officers present were Generals Suarez Valdez, Pando, Marin and 
Nevarro, Admiral Yanas and staff, Colonel Castanedo, Major Moriano 
and many others. 

Enthusiastic Welcome. 

General Weyler was welcomed by the City Council on board the 
" Alfonso XIII." He was presented with an address of welcome 
and assurance of loyalty. At 1 1 o'clock the Captain-General came 
ashore, and was received by General Marin and staff. The streets 
Were packed with people, who displayed the greatest enthusiasm. In 
fact, rarely has a distinguished person been received so warmly as 
was General Weyler when he landed. There is no doubt that con- 
siderable real enthusiasm was manifested, in addition to the greet- 
ings which would naturally be bestowed upon the representative of 
Spain. 

The balconies in all the streets about the water-front and in the 
vicinity of the Palace were full of ladies in holiday attire, and they 
showered flowers upon the new commander as he passed. Besides, 
numerous floral offerings of the most beautiful description, prin- 
cipally in the shape of crowns, were presented to the General, who 
expressed his thanks in each case in a few brief words. He seemed 
to be much pleased with his reception, and upon arriving at the 
Palace formally took over the duties of the captain-generalship, tak- 
ing the oath of fealty over a crucifix and upon a Bible. General 
Marin administered the oath of office, and soon afterward he received 
the local military and civil authorities, the different corporations and 
the bishops and priests. 

The German warships which were in the harbor saluted tf " 



88 GENERAL WEYLER IN CUBA. 

arrival of General Weyler, as did all the Spanish warships in port 
and the forts ashore. The Loyalists, of course, were out in the 
strongest force possible ; but it may be said that the entire popula- 
tion of Havana turned out, and hardly a representative of the ship- 
ping or business interests of the city failed to make the day a 
holiday. After the reception of the local military and civil authori- 
ties, corporations and clergy was completed, General Weyler ap- 
peared upon the balcony of the Palace and reviewed the troops. His 
appearance before the public was the signal for a long outburst of 
the most enthusiastic cheering, the firing of cannon and the sound of 
martial music, all the bands in the city being stationed at different 
points. In addition to the inhabitants of the city proper thousands 
of people flocked into the city from all directions before daybreak. 

Restrictions upon the Press. 

Accompanying General Weyler were Captains Gelaber and Lin- 
ares, who are known as " military editors." They were to have 
charge of the press censorship, and it was rumored that there would 
be considerably more difficulty experienced in this connection by the 
correspondents in the future. The press regulations had been con- 
siderably relaxed, and not much difficulty had been experienced in 
getting average matter upon the cable. But, it was thought the new 
Captain-General would be very severe with correspondents who sent 
false accounts of Cuban successes or in any way brought about the pub- 
lication of false news. By this it was not meant that General Weyler 
intended to interfere with the proper liberty which the press can be 
allowed in war-time. It really meant only that he would do every- 
thing possible to prevent the sending out of news undoubtedly false. 

A disinterested observer of the situation wrote as follows undei 
date of Feb. 10, 1896: 

" So far as the general situation is concerned, there is not much 
change. Indeed, no change of importance is expected for some 
days. General Weyler will first devote himself to a complete review 
of the operations already undertaken, and he will then figure out the 
situation as it actually exists. For this purpose, almost immediately 



GENERAL WEYLER IN CUBA. 89 

after taking the oath of fealty, he caused orders to be sent to all the 
commanders in the field to draw up promptly and forward to head- 
quarters here complete returns of the condition of their commands, 
together with the state of railroads, telegraphs and public thorough- 
fares and the probable location and strength of the enemy in their 
neighborhoods. 

Weyler Seeks to Learn the Situation. 

" This action upon the part of General Weyler is supplementary to 
the regular report and returns which were handed over to him by 
General Marin after the new Captain-General had been sworn in. 
While it is no reflection upon General Marin or the other Spanish 
commanders here or in other parts of Cuba, the Captain-General 
took this step in order thoroughly to go over the ground himself, 
and possibly in view of the sensational reports which have been cir- 
culated by agents of the insurgents and others to the effect that large 
quantities of stores, arms and ammunition are missing from the dif- 
ferent depots and have found their way into the hands of the insur- 
gents. Between this and the tales of wholesale dishonesty circulate «/ 
here and elsewhere there is quite a difference, and nobody hei 1 . 
believes that there has been any treachery of importance. 

" General Marin, who has been appointed Captain- General of Porto 
Rico, is expected to leave for his new post to-morrow. The exact 
plan of campaign of General Weyler is not known, but it is believed 
that it will be a very different one from that of Campos. He is likely 
to call in all of the small detachments of troops, which have from 
the first had such a weakening effect upon the Spanish operations, 
and will try to drive the insurgents into a position from which they 
cannot escape without a pitched battle. General Weyler will also do 
everything possible to muster as strong a force of cavalry as he can. 
Considerable reinforcements of this branch of the service have already 
arrived here, and more are expected during the week. 

" Some reports credit the insurgents with desiring to concentrate 
all their scattered detachments and columns into one body, and so 
bring the insurrection to a direct issue. But Spaniards here who are 



90 GENERAL WEYLER IN CUBA. 

well posted on the situation say that there is no truth in the report 
that the insurgents will make any effort to risk a pitched battle." 

Captain-General Weyler clearly defined the policy he intended to 
pursue in the conduct of the campaign for the suppression of the 
insurrection. Before he had been at Havana many hours he issued 
the following proclamation : 

"To the People of Cuba: Honored by Her Majesty, the Queen, 
and her Government, with the command of this Island, under the 
difficult circumstances now prevailing, I take charge of it with the 
determination that it shall never be given up by me, and that I shall 
keep it in the possession of Spain, willing as she is to carry out 
whatever sacrifice shall be required to succeed, as she has been in 
the past. 

" I reiy upon the gallantry and discipline of the army and navy, 
upon the patriotism, never to be subdued, of the volunteer corps, 
and more especially upon the support that I should be given by the 
loyal inhabitants, born here or in Spain. 

" It is not necessary to say that I shall be generous with the sub- 
dued and to all of those doing any service to the Spanish cause. But 
I will not lack in the decision and energy of my character to punish 
with all the rigor that the law enacts those who in any way shall help 
the enemy, or shall calumniate the prestige of our name. 

" Putting aside at present any idea of politics, my mission is the 
honorable one of finishing the war, and I only see in you the loyal 
Spaniards who are to assist me to defeat the insurgents. But her 
Majesty's Government is aware of what you are and of what you are 
worthy, and the status of peace that these provinces may obtain. It 
will grant you, when it is deemed suitable to do so, the reforms the 
Government may think most proper, with the love of a mother to her 
children. 

" Inhabitants of Cuba, lend me your co-operation and in that way 
you will defend your interests, which are those of the country. 

" Long live Spanish Cuba ! 

" Your General and Governor, 

" Valeriano Weyler, 

" Marquis of Teneriffe." 



GENERAL WEYLER IN CUBA. 91 

To the Volunteers and Firemen. 

General Weyler also offered the following address: 

" Volunteers and Firemen : Being again at your head, I see in you 
the successors of the volunteers and firemen who fought with me in 
the previous war, and, with their bravery, energy and patriotism, 
brought about peace, defended the towns and cities and contributed 
most powerfully to save Cuba for Spain. Remember these virtues 
brighten your spirits, and, relying on my whole attention, my decisive 
support and my utmost confidence, lend me the same help and co- 
operation, and with the same ambition, save the prestige of your name 
and the honor of our flag, which, forever victorious, should fly over 
this Island. 

" Soldiers of the army, I greet you in the name of Her Majesty, 
the Queen, and of the Government. Having the honor of being at 
your head, I trust that at my command you will continue to show 
the bravery in face of hardships proper for the Spanish soldier, and 
that you will confer new wreaths to add to those already attained 
under the command of my predecessors, Generals Martinez Campos 
and Sabas Marin. 

" On my part, answering to the great sacrifice made by the nation 
and using the efforts of all arms and bodies in the work entrusted to 
each of the organic units, I will not omit anything to place you in the 
condition for obtaining the victory and the return of peace to this 
Island, which is what she longs for. 

" Sailors, I have again the satisfaction to be at your side, and I 
again trust that, as in Mindanao recently, you will lend me your 
powerful co-operation to bring peace to this Island. Thus I expect 
surely that you will afford me a new chance to express my thanks 
and my enthusiasm to the Spanish navy." 

To the Military Officers. 

The following circular of General Weyler was addressed to the 
military officers : 

'* I have addressed my previous proclamations at the moment of 



92 GENERAL WEYLER IN CUBA. 

my landing to the loyal inhabitants, to the volunteers ana nremen, 
and to the army and navy. 

" I may give you a slight idea of the intentions I have and the 
measures I shall follow as Governor-General-in-Chief, in accordance 
with the general desire of Spain and with the decided aim of Her 
Majesty's Government to furnish all the means required to control and 
crush this rebellion. 

" Knowing this, and knowing my character, I may perhaps need to 
say no more to make you understand what is the conduct that I am 
to follow. But with the idea of avoiding all kinds of doubt, even 
keeping (as you are to keep) the circulars to be published, I deem it 
necessary to make some remarks. 

Determined to Aid the Local Governments. 

" It is not unknown by you that the state in which the rebellion 
has come and the raid made by the principal leaders recently, which 
could not be stopped even by the active pursuit of the columns, is 
due to the indifference, the fear or the disheartenment of the inhabi- 
tants. Since it cannot be doubted that some, seeing the burning of 
their property without opposition, and that others, who have been 
born in Spain, should sympathize with the insurgents, it is necessary 
at all hazards to better this state of things and to brighten the spirit 
of the inhabitants, making them aware that I am determined to lend 
all my assistance to the local inhabitants. So I am determined to 
have the law fall with all its weight upon all those in anyway helping 
the enemy, or praising them, or in any way detracting from the 
prestige of Spain, of its army, or of its volunteers. It is necessary 
for those by our side to show their intentions with deeds, and thei> 
behavior should prove that they are Spanish. 

" Since the defence of the country demands the sacrifice of her 
children, it is necessary that the towns should look to their defence, 
and that no precautions in the way of scouts should be lacking to 
give news concerning the enemy, and whether it is in their neighbor- 
hood, and so that it may not happen that the enemy should be better 
informed than we. 



GENERAL WEYLER IN CUBA. 93 

" The energy and vigor of the enemy will be strained to trace the 
course of our line, and in all cases you will arrest and place at my 
disposal to deliver to the courts those who in any way shall show 
their sympathy or support for the rebels. 

" The public spirit being heatened,you must not forget to enlist the 
volunteers and guerrillas in your district, this not preventing at the 
same time the organization, as opportunity offers, of a guerrilla band 
of twenty-five citizens for each battalion of the army. 

" I propose that you shall make the dispositions you think most 
proper for the carrying out of the plan I wish, but this shall not 
authorize you to determine anything not foreseen in the instructions, 
unless the urgency of some circumstances should demand it. 

" I expect that, confining yourself to these instructions, you wil\ 
lend me your worthy support towards the carrying out of my plan 
for the good of the Spanish cause. Weyler." 

The People Alarmed. 

It was considered that General Weyler's Proclamation was poorly 
adapted to quiet the storm of revolution. When it was announced 
that he was coming, an alarm amounting almost to terror spread 
among the Cubans in the provinces, and every day that brought his 
landing nearer increased the panic. In two days fifteen hundred peo- 
ple fled to Matanzas from the country south. Others came into 
Havana from all directions. 

In Sabanilla, after the Spanish garrison had killed the men to whom 
amnesty had been granted, in revenge for their losses and defeat by 
the insurgents, a reign of terror began in the city. Women dared 
not leave their homes. In many cases they were dragged out by the 
Spanish and by the drunken rabble of the town, who had license 
given to them at the same time that protection was withdrawn from 
the homes. The whole matter was laid before the Captain-General, 
but he took no measure of relief. 

A committee of citizens came to Havana from Jovellanos, another 
place where the same sort of murdering had been going on. It was 
composed of both Spanish and Cubans. They bad no sooner returned 



94 GENERAL WEYLER IN CUBA. 

unsuccessful in their mission to General Marin than the inhabitants 
began to leave, and more than half the population deserted the city. 

The alarm spread to other places, and not without cause. Arrests 
ot " suspects " were made in every town where there was a Spanish 
garrison. In Havana " suspects " were taken every day, Of a sus- 
pect's fate only one thing could be learned from the officials — " He 
was incommunicado." That meant that he was buried from the 
world. No one but the Spanish officers were then permitted to see 
him, and unless his arrest was observed by some one who knew him, 
not one word ever reached a friend or family to explain the cause of 
his disappearance. 

The military executions are not public unless the victim is a 
" rebel chief" or a cause exists for a display. To be a "suspect " it 
is only necessary to be a " sympathizer," and " sympathy " is not 
defined. In a published statement made by Weyler just before he 
embarked for Cuba he is quoted as saying : " I will be inexorable 
toward spies and sympathizers," and he also omitted to draw the line. 
In Cuba it does not mean to extend aid or comfort. 

Large Number of Arrests. 

In five days there were forty-seven arrests in Pinar del Rio " on 
suspicion." From Jovellanos in Matanzas Province six hundred peo- 
ple fled because thirty-six " suspects " were arrested in two days. 
Some of these refugees reached Havana, and their story was that six 
of the prisoners were marched out of the city at night, that firing was 
heard, and that the guard returned without them. The friends of the 
victims were too much terrified to manifest their sympathy or attempt 
to recover the bodies, for fear of being themselves apprehended as 
suspects. 

From Santiago people came to Havana with the same reports. At 
Hoyo Colorado, between Havana and Guanajay, the Spanish garrison 
took seventy-nine suspects within a few days. This town was peace- 
ably held by the Cuban army for several days, and while the insur- 
gents were there they hung some of the dissolute characters in the 
place, who had used their presence as an excuse for crime. After 



GENERAL WEYLER IN CUBA. 95 

their retirement the Spanish moved in, and the wholesale arrests 
began. 

Before General Weyler set out from Spain a cablegram from 
Madrid was published in the Havana newspapers quoting him as 
saying: " I desire the insurgents to remain in Havana and Pinar del 
Rio, because there the ground is suitable for wiping them out. I 
believe that suspects are quite right in fleeing f om Havana, and when 
I arrive many more will go." It is significant that the newspapers of 
Havana in which the military censor caused this to be printed dis- 
played the statement in black full-face type. 

It is noteworthy that when Weyler was named as a possible suc- 
cessor to Captain-General Arias in 1894, Campos, who was not a can- 
didate for the office — the choice lying between Weyler and Calleja — 
said: " If Weyler is nominated even the dead would rise from their 
graves to protest." Calleja was appointed because affairs in Cuba were 
already becoming unsettled, and the Spanish Ministry feared that 
Weyler's name alone would be dangerous to all interests. When- 
ever such methods were urged upon Campos, while he was in Cuba, 
he steadfastly resisted, and declared that humanity had a call upon 
any nation's acts in warfare. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Horrible Story of Barbarity. 

rUST previous to General Weyler's arrival some startling facti. 
came out concerning the battle at Paso Real, between General 
J Luque and General Maceo's division under Bermudez, Zayas 
ana Chileno. From an official Spanish source and also from citizens 
of Paso Real, who were eye-witnesses of the battle, it was learned 
that the hospital was invaded, the wounded rebels killed, some of 
them in their beds, and that when the thirty-seven Spanish prisoners, 
taken in the battle outside the town, were about to be taken away, 
Bermudez, in retaliation for the butchery of his sick, ordered a line to 
be formed, and the thirty-seven were pinioned and shot. 

The Cubans told a horrifying tale of the fight, and declared that 
the hospital was the real scene of which Luque wrote in his report : 
" I had the satisfaction of seeing at the end of the day sixty-two 
rebels dead." 

Paso Real had been used for seventeen days as the insurgent 
hospital. Maceo had left all his wounded there when he moved into 
Havana province to operate with Gomez. The surrounding country 
was free, practically, from Spanish forces, except Luque's command 
in Pinar del Rio City. Maceo counted upon reaching the people 
with protection if they were threatened, and when word came to him 
that Luque had left for Paso Real, he sent Bermudez with 1,000 
cavalry to hold the town. Luque, as he said in his report, marched 
twenty-seven hours, almost continuously, and when he reached Paso 
Real, he found only a small garrison there. His report says : 

" The rebels made a strong defense, firing from the tops of houses 

and along the fences around the city. The Spanish vanguard, under 

Colonel Hernandez, attacked the vanguard, centre and rear-guard of 

the rebels in the central streets of the town, driving them with con- 

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98 HORRIBLE STORY OF BARBARITY. 

tinuous volleys and fierce cavalry charges into the outskirts of the 
town.' : And all this is true. 

Then General Luque says specifically that " up to this point we 
had killed ten insurgents." And there the citizens of Paso Real say 
that the report is also true, but that, having driven the insurgents out, 
the hospital was attacked, and twenty-eight men, or thirty-two (the 
accounts vary between these two figures), were killed. They declare 
that shots were fired through the windows upon men lying in cots, 
and that, when the doors were broken down, the rest were killed 
with the bayonet. 

A Spirited Fight. 

General Luque's report continues : " As Colonel Hernandez was 
pursuing them (the insurgents) out of the city, he encountered 1,000 
cavalry drawn up in line of battle ready to attack him." This was 
Bermudez and his cavalry, who had come up at that moment. A 
Spanish officer who was in this fight said : " It was as hot as any 
fight we have ever had in this war. It seemed twice as if they were 
piling all over us. We just kept on firing, and I could see men 
going down on both sides. Sometimes we couldn't see anything for 
the smoke, but when it cleared the men only dropped so much 
faster that we wanted it back again. I came away at once when the 
fight was over, and I don't know what the losses were, but they must 
have been very large on both sides." 

Of this the report says : " The Spanish forces advanced from one 
position to another, firing volleys. They were met by the enemy, 
whose cavalry charged, coming as far as the bayonet points of the 
Spanish soldiers. The first time we repelled them in straight lines, 
the second time in circular groups." From anything but a Spanish 
standpoint this peculiar progression of tactics would indicate that the 
Spanish straight lines were very seriously broken, and that the " cir- 
cular groups " which followed were either accident or necessity, 
but General Luque says that it really meant that " the rebels were 
thus utterly dispersed and retreated in the direction of Palacios." 

This part of the day's conflict was where the thirty-seven 



HORRIBLE STORY OF BARBARITY. 99 

Spanish were made prisoners. It was after the fight that Bermudez 
learned what had occurred in the town, and then he shot them and 
left their bodies on the ground, where they were buried that night by 
the Spanish, all in one grave. General Luque reported this fight as 
a great victory. There are Spanish school histories which say 
Nelson's fleet was defeated at Trafalgar. The Spanish newspapers 
at Havana were still referring to " the most glorious victory at Los 
Arrovos," where in the early fall one of their strong forces was 
utterly defeated, and the official Spanish report of Campos' defeat 
and retreat from Mai Tiempo still reads, " Our side had but seventeen 
killed." 

A Disastrous Campaign, 

Under date of February 8th, we have an account of the operations 
of the Spanish General Sabas Marin, who left Havana a short time 
before. His campaign in search of General Gomez was disastrous, 
and the official reports of Spanish victories were misleading. There 
were losses on both sides, but Marin accomplished absolutely nothing 
of what he intended to achieve. 

The first misfortune which overtook the Spaniards was the rout of 
Carnella.-, on the very day on which Marin left Havana. Canellas 
left Guanajay in the morning with 1,500 infantry. His rout was 
known to Gomez, who sent Pedro Diaz with 400 infantry and 1,000 
cavalry to engage him at the Saladrigas plantation, while the mair 
army moved safely eastward, a few miles to the south. It was 
Gomez's in f ention to come up in the rear of Marin between the 
Captain-General's forces and the Spanish line. 

Diaz reached Saladrigas early in the morning. Near the road the 
land is cut into small sections by stone fences, and a high fence 
fronted by a ditch faces the road. Just beyond this point is a sharp 
hill, around which the road turns. Behind the hill Diaz waited in 
concealment with the 1,000 cavalry for the sound of firing from the 
400 infantry who were hidden behind the fence where Canellas was 
to pass. Nearly three hours they were lying there, when the head of 
the Spanish column appeared. The advance guard was allowed to 
pass, and the main body was completely in the trap when volleys 



100 



HORRIBLE STORY OF BARBARITY. 



were poured into them, fairly mowing them down. Canellas made 
a brave stand and attempted to dislodge the rebels, but his men 
were panic-stricken, and some of them had fled before he had his 
force under control. 

As the first charge was being made Diaz came down upon his 




THE OLD FORT HAVANA. 

flank and rear with the thousand cavalry. The onslaught was irre- 
sistible. Half of Diaz's men never fired a shot, but howling 
" Machete ! " they rode furiously upon the Spanish lines, cutting 
their way through with the ugly weapon of which they are such 
masters. 

Diaz had not placed enough men behind the wall to hold it, and 
the Spanish succeeded in gaining it after a hot struggle. They were 
but little better off, however, as the insurgents took cover behind 
another fence on the opposite side of the field. Again they were 
dislodged and forced back, while from the first position about half of 
Canellas' force withstood the cavalry. Diaz, sheltered in under- 
brush and woods, kept up a scattered firing for over two hours, and 
then withdrew. 

That night Canellas remained on the battle-ground. As soon as 



HORRIBLE STORY OF BARBARITY. 101 

Diaz was gone, picket lines were thrown out and the burying of the 
dead began. It was midnight when Canellas resumed his march 
toward San Antonio, and when he brought in what was left of his 
command Marin hastened back with all his force, to the main line 
and went down to Quivican. 

No official report of this battle was issued by the Spanish. So tar 
as the record shows it never occurred. A Spanish general admitted 
that Carnellas lost 200 men. An eye-witness of the fight, who 
reached Havana that night, said the loss was greater. Gomez's march 
was thus saved from interruption by Marin. The next day, while 
Marin was at Quivican, Gomez's forces were near Guira, in the 
Havana province. Gomez himself was that day at the Mirosa plan- 
tation, east of the Spanish line, with about 400 men. He had come 
down from the Bahia Honda district, through the same country 
Maceo was traversing. 

Capture of a Railroad Train. 

Next day, while Marin was moving trains loaded with men out 
over the branch road toward Guira for another move upon Gomez, 
occurred the second and by far the most serious of the Spanish disas- 
ters. It was nothing less. Diaz, until now unheard of as a rebel 
leader, came in behind Marin and captured a railroad train of twenty- 
nine cars directly on the trocha, two miles south of San Felipe. He 
took 1,000 Mauser rifles, 200,000 cartridges, two rapid-fire cannon 
and killed or captured the whole Spanish escort with the train. 
Then Marin returned again in all haste to Quivican. 

This event has been embodied in an official report, but the report 
agrees neither with what the Spanish permitted to be printed in the 
Havana papers nor with the facts which were collected down tht 
line. The rebels tore up the rails for a space of 300 yards. They 
were unmolested, as the Spanish had no idea that they would venture 
" into the face of death," as they say when referring to the trocha. 
Furthermore, Marin was out toward Guira, again engaged in sur- 
rounding Gomez. 

Diaz, with 400 men, waited for the train in compaiative security 



102 HORRIBLE STORY OF BARBARITY. 

until 5 o'clock in the afternoon. It was guarded by only forty-two 
Spanish soldiers, and they were part in an armored car and part scat- 
tered along the top of the train. The engine ran on to the broken 
track and rolled over into the ditch. As soon as it struck, the rebels 
fired on the train, killing Major Lopez Tovezulla, who was in com- 
mand, a lieutenant, a sergeant and fourteen of the soldiers. Then 
the rest surrendered their arms and the insurgents demanded the 
number of the car in which the rapid-fire cannon were stored. The 
soldiers declared they were left behind, and then the looting of the 
train began. 

When all that the 400 men could carry had been loaded on their 
horses, and some mules taken from the train had been hitched to the 
cannon, Gen. Linares, who had heard the firing at San Felipe, came 
up with 2,000 infantry. The insurgents retired in the direction of 
Guira without waiting to engage with his force. Linares' men 
managed to save eight of the cars with part of their freight. The 
other twenty-two were burned, having been fired by the rebels. The 
train had one of the richest freights which had gone down the road 
in a long time. It was to be put on a steamer and sent to several 
ports on the south coast. 

The insurgents not only knew the exact time of its passing, but of 
its contents, and the " Diario de la Marina," the Spanish newspaper in 
Havana, gravely requested in its leading editorial that Gen. Marin 
investigate to discover how the insurgents became informed and take 
precautions* to prevent the repetition of such an unseemly occur- 
1 ence. 

The Spanish official report said that the Spanish guard did not 
surrender, and that they retained their arms. The only arms Gen. 
Linares brought back to San Felipe which he did not take out were 
some old shot-guns, muskets and muzzle-loading rifles. The Cubans 
declare that these were thrown away by the rebels when they 
secured the Mausers, and they are strong evidence that this Cuban 
version is the true one. 



CHAPTER IX. 
Men and Arms for Cuba. 

FROM the beginning of the Cuban uprising constant attempts 
have been made to supply the insurgents with arms and 
ammunition from our own country. Secret agents were at 
work in many places, and Spanish spies were equally active. It was 
well understood that several expeditions had succeeded in effecting a 
landing in Cuba, and the supplies thus furnished had been of material 
help to General Gomez and his troops. 

Our government officials, while sympathizing with the cause of 
Cuba, were nevertheless active in preventing the shipment of arms. 
But a sea-coast as long as ours, with a great number of ports, has 
afforded ample opportunity for expeditions to be fitted out secretly, 
and it seems impossible for Spanish gunboats to prevent entirely the 
Cuban army from obtaining supplies from outside sources. 

The following account of the seizure of a vessel will be of interest 
to the reader: The iron steamer " Bermuda," flying the British flag, 
was boarded and seized by New York revenue officers off Liberty 
Island late on the night of Feb. 24. The " Bermuda " had been under 
the watch of Spanish spies for some time. They had reason to believe 
that she had been bought by Cuban revolutionists and was fitting out 
as a filibuster. She had been anchored off Liberty Island for several 
days, and there was evidence that she was preparing for sea. 

At 1 1 P. M., just after a large party of Cubans had gone aboard, the 
revenue cutter " Hudson " steamed alongside, and a boarding party 
arrested all on the " Bermuda." At midnight the revenue cutter 
''Chandler" started down the bay to catch a lighter loaded with 
ammunition and look for another party of Cubans who had started to 
board the " Bermuda." 

The " Bermuda " was an English-built steams formerly running in 

103 



104 MEN AND ARMS FOR CUBA. 

the Outerbridge Line. She was purchased by a firm suspected of 
being in league with the revolutionary party. She was recently 
taken to the coal docks at Port Liberty, and there coaled up. Then 
she went to the Liberty Island anchorage. When the tug ran along- 
side the marshals and Pinkerton men swarmed aboard. No resistance 
was offered by the frightened crew and Cubans, who had just come 
aboard. Every man was seized. Among the captives were General 
Garcia and several other prominent Cubans. Several bags of gold 
were seized by the marshals and a quantity of ammunition. 

Revolutionists Arrested. 

General Calixto Garcia and about sixty other of the leading spirits 
in the Cuban revolutionary cause were brought to the Federal 
Building. The warrant upon which the 200 Cuban revolutionists 
were taker, into custody was drawn in accordance with the section of 
the Federal Revised Statutes, which is a portion of what is known as 
the " Neutrality Act." 

A great many of the prisoners found on the " Bermuda " and the 
two tug-boats were survivors of the expedition which left the New 
Haven river a month before on the " J. W. Hawkins," which sunk off 
the south shore of Long Island, a number of men going down with 
the wreck. Afterward the filibusters were watched by spies employed 
by the Spanish and United States governments. The surveillance 
led to the discovery that General Garcia and his followers had pur- 
chased the " Bermuda " to take a large company of insurgents to 
Cuba, with arms and ammunition. The " Bermuda," which had 
been granted clearance papers at the custom house to Santa Martha, 
United States of Colombia, was making ready to leave port when 
United States Marshals McCarthy and Kennedy made their raid. 
The steam lighter " Stranahan," which had left one of the Brooklyn 
piers, was seized, the ammunition in boxes, which was concealed 
beneath piles of cord-wood, and on the " Bermuda " were found 
several bags of gold coin. 

The prisoners were released because their arrest was in violation 
of the ni'itriiCtions sent oul from Washington by Attorney-General 



MEN AND ARMS FOR CUBA. 



1U0 



Harmon, that suspicion merely was not sufficient ground for arrest, 
but that evidence of intention to violate the neutrality laws was 
required. 

The trial of Captain Wiborg, First Mate Petersen and Second 
Mate Johansen, of the steamship " Horsa," on the charge of begin- 
ning a military expedition, to carry men and arms to Cuba, to aid in 




MARINE WHARF— HAVANA. 

rhe insurrection against Spain, was held in Philadelphia in the latta 
part of February, before Judge Butler in the United States District 
Court. 

In the course of the proceedings, District Attorney Ingham called 
for the production by Captain Wiborg of the charter under which the 
"Horsa" made the trip from Philadelphia to Port Antonio, during 
which the alleged offence was said to have been committed. Mr. 
Ker, counsel for the defence, contended that if the " Horsa " was 
more than three miles out from the shore at Barnegat, when the men 
and ammunition were taken on board, the alleged offence did not 
^ome within the jurisdiction of the United States. 

The Tudge said that if it was proven that the defendants did no* 



106 MEN AND ARMS FOR CUBA. 

know where the men were going he would affirm the point. In 
reply District Attorney Ingham said that he did not rest the United 
States' case on that question. He relied on the testimony which was 
heard to show that there was an organization, and that it took place 
in the United States, and that under it men and arms were taken to 
Cuba. 

Testimony of a Fireman. 

The examination began with Oscar Svensen, one of the " Horsa's " 
firemen. The witness related that portions of the ship were repainted, 
and then, coming down to the time when the thirty or forty men 
were taken on board to be conveyed to Cuba, he said that he told 
the chief engineer that he did not wish to go along, and desired to 
go ashore. The witness said that the chief replied that his life was 
as dear to him as the lives of the witness and the men complaining 
with him were to them, and that the captain had said it was all right. 

Svensen said he had taken five trips on the "Horsa;" that he 
knew Firemen Armstrong and Fredericksen of the vessel ; also that 
nothing about money was said by the captain when the witness and 
the men with him had raised objections to going along. 

Svensen said that some of the men taken on board on one occasion 
had an exercise. He had heard the cannon fired and saw the smoke. 
Regarding the boxes said to have contained ammunition, the witness 
said that a fellow from Jamaica had opened them. The pay of 
Svensen was $25 per month. To the question when he had first 
told his story and to whom, the witness answered by the statement 
that it was two weeks ago, and to a Pinkerton Agency man. The 
pay he received for giving information and his detention here was 
$2 per day and board. 

After some further questioning by counsel, the witness, in answer 
to a question by the Judge, said that he shipped in Philadelphia, 
but that he did not know whether the other firemen were employed 
here or not. Svensen was shown a number of swords and machetes, 
some of which he designated as " banana snipes." 

The next witness was Ludwig Gustav Jensen, who was also a fire- 
man on the " Horsa." Jensen said that he had wanted extra pay to. 



MEN AND ARMS FOR CUBA. 107 

go on the ship, after the thirty or forty men were taken aboard, and 
spoke to the chief engineer about it. The latter had said that if 
anybody was to get hung it would be him, the chief engineer, and 
not the crew. In reply to questions from the Judge, the witness 
described the cartridge boxes, said he saw six of the men taken on 
board drill, and described the rifles and guns. 

The Captain on the Stand. 

Edward N. Taxis and Herbert Ker testified that the machetes car- 
ried by the men were to be seen strapped to the waists or slung over 
the shoulders of nearly every inhabitant of the West Indies. Mr. 
Ker also testified that he had taken a trip to Africa on the " Horsa " 
last March, and was thoroughly familiar with the vessel. He said it 
was customary to paint the funnels and other portions of the vessel 
at sea, and he had often seen it done. During his trip to Africa he 
on one occasion happened to particularly notice the name on the 
stern of the vessel, and he testified that the name was in brass letters 
about six or eight inches high, and were raised about one inch. 

Captain Wiborg was then called as a witness in his own behalf. 
Before beginning his examination Mr. Ker stated to the court that 
the mere making of an affidavit by any one in the court-room, who 
might hear this witness' testimony, would result in his life being for- 
feited should he ever set foot in Spanish dominion, and he thought it 
his duty, in order to protect his client as far as possible, to ask the 
court to forbid the publication of his testimony or to exclude every 
one from the court-room while he was being examined. 

Judge Butler said the court was there to try the case according to 
the evidence, and had nothing to do with the risk the witness took in 
giving his testimony. He was not compelled to testify, and what- 
ever evidence he gave would be voluntary, with the full knowledge 
on the part of the witness of the responsibility he was taking. 

Captain Wiborg testified that he had been captain of the steamer 
" Horsa" two years. On the evening of November 9, 1895, he left 
Philadelphia for Jamaica between 7 and 8 o'clock. Before leaving 
porr the name of the vessel was scraped off the side of the vessel on 



108 MEN AND ARMS FOR CUBA. 

account of iron rust. He had regular clearance papers. The name 
of the vessel was also on the stern of the vessel in brass letters or 
composition. He had two boats and two horses, and a lot of empty- 
boxes and barrels. He received a message to go opposite Barnegat 
and await orders, which he did. 

He anchored four or five miles from shore. He anchored because 
the chief engineer told him part of the machinery was not working 
properly, and he should keep the ship in smooth water. While 
there anchored he received a message by tug telling him to take the 
men and boats on board and deliver the boats to the men when they 
called for them. The men walked through the port between decks 
when they boarded his vessel. He then proceeded southward and 
passed Waterland Island towards Jamaica. This route is called 
Crooked Island passage. 

Off the Cuban Coast. 

In taking this route to Jamaica, the captain said, it was necessary 
to sail along the coast of Cuba for about six hours. It was when his 
vessel was about six miles off the Cuban coast that a colored man, 
who was said to be a pilot, told him to stop the vessel and let the 
men off. He did so, and the men got into the boats, taking as many 
boxes as they could carry, and then asked him to tow them in 
towards shore a bit, which he did. 

In answer to questions, the witness said that the men did not have 
the appearance of soldiers, and he had no knowledge that they were 
going to take part in the war in Cuba. In giving them passage he 
had obeyed orders, and had no right to refuse them. All told, he 
said, there were 39 men transferred to the " Horsa," and they brought 
a lot of boxes with them. They did not call upon him for meals, but 
brought their own food with them in the boxes, some of which con- 
tained canned goods and hardtack. He said the men had guns, but 
he did not think anything of that, as he had often seen passengers 
carry guns on his vessel. He saw the cannon which they brought, 
and at first he thought it was one of his own, as it was very much 
like them. The captain said that he had two cannons on the " Horsa." 



MEN AND ARMS FOR CUBA. 109 

one a small brass one, which was used in firing salutes, and the other 
of considerable size. 

The following was Judge Butler's charge: " The defendants being, 
or rather having been at the time in question, officers of the ship, 
the first as captain, and the others as mates, are indicted jointly and 
also separately, in which indictments it is charged that ' they, within 
the territory and jurisdiction of the United States, did begin, set on 
foot, and provide and prepare the means for a certain military expe- 
dition and enterprise to be carried on from thence against the terri- 
tory and dominions of a foreign prince, to wit: Against the Island of 
Cuba, the said Island being then and there the territory and domin- 
ions of the King of Spain, the said United States being at peace with 
the said king, contrary to the Act of Congress in such case made and 
provided.' 

Was it a Military Expedition? 

"The evidence heard would not justify a conviction of anything 
more than providing the means for or aiding such military expedition, 
as by furnishing transportation for the men, their arms, baggage, etc. 
To convict them you must be fully satisfied by the evidence that a 
military expedition was organized in this country to be carried out 
as, and with the object, charged in the bill ; and that the defendants 
with knowledge of this provided means for its assistance and assisted 
it as before stated." 

In commenting on the Judge's decisions, counsel for the defence 
said: " It has been decided that, 'it is no offence against the laws of 
the United States to transport arms, ammunition and munitions of 
war from this country to any foieign country, nor is it any offence to 
transport persons intending to enlist in foreign armies, and arms and 
munitions of war on the same ship. In such cases the persons trans- 
ported and the shipper run the risk of seizure and capture by the 
foreign power, against whom the arms were to be used.' 

" The Judge further charges that the putting out of lights and the 
taking on and transferring of passengers and boxes of arms on the 
high seas are acts which are perfectly lawful, in order to prevent cap- 
ture by a Spanish man-of-war. 



110 MEN AND ARMS FOR CUBA 

" If the Spaniards want to stop the landing of arms in Cuba, let 
them close the ports of the Island. This, of course, they won't do." 

When the case was given to the jury, they deliberated twelve hours, 
then brought in a verdict of guilty against Captain Wiborg and his 
officers, who were sentenced to fines and imprisonment from one 
year to fifteen months. An appeal was taken, and the men were 
liberated on bail. 

What Became of the "Bermuda?" 

It is necessary at this point to anticipate a little the order of events 
and state what became of the steamer " Bermuda," referred to in the 
first part of this chapter. The quiet, easy-going people of Somers 
Point, N. J., Ocean City, Beesley's Point and Tuckahoe suddenly 
awakened, on March 17, to the fact that a big Cuban filibustering 
expedition lias just cleared from their midst without one of them for 
a moment suspecting what the strange movements of the large body 
of swarthy-skinned visitors meant. 

The steamer " Atlantic City " took the Cuban patriots, who reached 
Tuckahoe on the night of the 16th, out to the famous "Bermuda," 
which at 6 o'clock sharp gave five shrill signal whistles, announcing 
that she was awaiting them just off the Great Egg Harbor bar. Three 
hours afterwards the " Atlantic City " returned to her winter berth at 
Tuckahoe, having safely transferred her passengers to the " Ber- 
muda," which promptly steamed away southward. The party con- 
sisted of General Garcia and his 32 compatriots, who left Philadelphia 
on the 15th, and about 30 other volunteers for Cuban freedom, who 
joined them in some mysterious way afterward. 

In a clever manner the Cubans eluded the spies in the employ of 
Spain, who followed their tug down the Delaware on the night of the 
15th. The tug started ostensibly for Cape Henlopen, where it was 
supposed the filibusters were to be put aboard the " Bermuda." The 
tug led the Spanish spies a merry chase about the Delaware Bay, and 
then, under cover of a heavy fog, slipped back up the Delaware, 
unsuspected and unnoticed, reaching Kaighn's Point, Camden, at an 
^a^y hour on Monday evening, the 16th. Here a special traii> ->n 



MEN AND ARMS FOR CUBA. Ill 

the Reading Railroad awaited them, and the Cuban patriots were 
swiftly borne to Tuckahoe, which is only about eight miles from 
Great Egg Harbor Bay. 

When the big party, which was said to have numbered fully 60, 
arrived at the little Jersey town, they began looking about for some- 
thing to eat. There was no hotel of any consequence at the place, 
and, to make matters worse, no stimulants of any kind could be pro- 
cured. Finally two handsome young Tuckahoe girls, who were on 
their way home from an evening sociable on the outskirts of the 
town, attracted the attention of the Cubans, and two of the best look- 
ing men of the party were delegated .0 interview them on the 
" grub " question. 

Supper for Patriots. 

The girls readily agreed to prepare supper for them, and were 
handed $50 each to stimulate them in their efforts to get a hurried 
meal for the hungry patriots. They were warned not to make any 
stir over the matter, and to say not a word to their neighbors until 
the party had left the place. 

The Cubans ate their late supper in squads, and after liberally 
complimenting the accommodating girls left the house in the best ol 
humor and quietly boarded the steamer " Atlantic City," which was 
lying at the wharf, above the drawbridge. The crew of the steamer 
were asleep at their homes in Tuckahoe, they having no knowledge 
whatever of the human freight which was taken aboard during their 
absence by Captain Reuben Young, of the " Atlantic City." 

Meantime a man claiming to be Captain J. F. R. Gandy, of the 
steamer " Atlantic City," had journeyed from Tuckahoe to Somers 
Point, where he called on Deputy Customs Collector James Scull, and 
made application to have the certificate of inspection of the " Atlantic 
City " changed, so as to permit that boat to navigate anywhere 
along the coast within ten miles of the shore. The boat had been 
in service at the Inlet at Atlantic City in the summer of 1895, being 
one of the fleet of the Atlantic Coast Steamboat Company, an 
Atlantic City organization. 



112 MEN AND ARMS FOR CUBA. 

Captain Gandy informed Deputy Scull that he was in a big hurry 
to get the papers, and was willing to pay handsomely to have them 
hurried down to Tuckahoe. On being asked where he was going, 
he said he was engaged to take a party south, and would leave as 
soon as the weather would permit. It was still foggy when Captain 
Gandy reached Somers Point, on Monday morning, and he appeared 
to be very much irritated at the atmospheric outlook. He made a 
diligent search for the metropolitan morning papers, and paid any 
price asked for them. He started back to Tuckahoe by way of 
Beesley's Point. The inspection papers were mailed on Monday 
afternoon by Deputy Scull, and could not possibly have reached 
Tuckahoe before Tuesday morning. 

General Garcia on Shore. 

Captain Gandy had inquired if he could not sail without the 
papers, but was warned by Mr. Scull to wait until they reached him 
or he might get into trouble. The " Atlantic City " left Tuckahoe 
however, at 6 o'clock on Tuesday morning, long before the morning 
mail arrived there. She steamed to Ocean City, which is about five 
miles off, and anchored in the Ocean City channel. 

Here the sloop-yacht " Black Ball," Captain Samuel B. Scull, put 
out to the " Atlantic City " and took a man, who has since been identi- 
fied as General Garcia, ashore. The General remained on the little 
wharf, while the sloop carried out several loads of provisions for the 
consumption of the Cuban patriots aboard the steamer. The fact 
that Ocean City is a temperance town was a source of serious dis- 
appointment to the "Atlantic City's" passengers, almost all of whom 
were shivering with the cold after their cheerless night on the 
Tuckahoe River. 

All Tuesday afternoon and night General Garcia and his men 
anxiously awaited a signal from the " Bermuda," which had left New 
York on Saturday morning. The cramped quarters aboard the 
"Atlantic City," and their desire to get away before suspicion was 
aroused as to the character and destination of the expedition, kept 
the Cubans in an uneasy state of mind. Not one of them, save 



MEN AND ARMS FOR CUBA. 113 

General Garcia, appeared above deck while the " Atlantic City " was 
anchored in the bay, and no one, not even Captain Scull, of the busy 
" Black Ball," was allowed aboard. 

When at last the shrill screeches of the " Bermuda's " whistle 
resounded over the bay, a stifled cheer came from the impatient 
Cubans below deck, and all was activity aboard the little pleasure- 
steamer. The anchor was hastily weighed, and the " Atlantic City '* 
swiftly headed for the open sea. As she cleared the Great Egg 
Harbor bar the men swarmed on deck, and cheer after cheer went u^. 
as they sighted the black hull of the " Bermuda " at a distance. 
Then, and not till then, did the people of shore towns suspect the 
true character of the mysterious party of Southern excursionists, as 
they had been frequently referred to. 

Previous to that it had been industriously noised about that the 
" Atlantic City " had been chartered to take a party of laborers to Cor- 
son's Inlet, where, it was said, work was to be begun on the proposed 
new branch of the South Jersey Railroad to Ocean City. The whole 
details for the transfer of the Cubans from Tuckahoe had evidently 
been arranged on Saturday, about the time the " Bermuda " left New 
York. 

The charter of the Philadelphia tug was a clever ruse to throw the 
Spanish spies off the track, and evidently worked perfectly in every 
detail. 
8 



CHAPTER X. 
Imprisonments and Massacres. 

EARLY in March the prisons of Cuba weie groaning with the 
burden of thousands of innocents. " Suspect " was a terrify- 
ing word throughout the whole Island. Every town, village 
and city, from one end of the country to the other, was witnessing 
scenes that were heart-rending in their cruelty, but upon which it 
was impossible to look with anything except hopeless pity. 

Men who had escaped were helpless to aid the victims, and to- 
morrow they might be in chains in the same cell. It required only 
an anonymous letter of denunciation addressed to the Spanish com- 
mander of the forces garrisoned in the town or at the nearest post. 
It might have been written by a debtor, an enemy, a spy whose ser- 
vices were valuable according to the number of his prey, or by some 
one whose designs might be furthered by removing the protection 
of women; but it needed only to be written, and a guard of soldiers 
were at hand, taking a man out of his bed at midnight, or from his 
table or his office, whence he was dragged to a military prison, chained 
into a gang of victims like himself, deprived of communication with 
any one, and, after a few days, a case having been manufactured 
agaitast him, he was sent to Havana and thence to Africa, to spend 
in a living grave the brief period that he could survive the notorious 
horrors of the penal colony at Ceuta. 

The extent to which this thing was being carried is almost incredi- 
ble. There was no respect of persons, unless it was that the best 
men of the towns were a majority of the victims. To be simply a 
" suspect " meant, in nine cases out of ten, conviction and sentence 
to death or life servitude. In one instance twenty men were released 
just as they were about to be put aboard the steamer for deportation, 
because it had been discovered that the author of their " denuncia- 
114 



IMPRISONMENTS AND MASSACRES. 115 

mento " was a sixteen-year-old boy, who had written an anonymous 
letter, probably inspired by the similarity between their names and 
those of some insurgent leaders. And these men were all merchants 
and otherwise prominent citizens of Santiago. Not a day passed 
without several companies of these prisoners reaching Havana. 

Crowded Dungeons. 

Morro Castle was overcrowded. There, in the dungeons which 
have accumulated the poisons of three centuries, the poor wretches 
were crowded like sheep in slaughter-pens — ten, fifteen or twenty- 
being crowded into a single cell, where the only light or air reaching 
them was through a grating which was not more than six inches 
high from the floor. Unless some one could bribe a guard to give a 
blanket to a prisoner, the man was left to make the best that he 
could of bare stones. 

An American correspondent who was in Morro but two days con- 
tracted a fever, although he was treated with exceptional considera- 
tion, as exceptions go in Morro. But the herd, the natives who were 
being taken away in this manner in greater numbers than the armies 
lose in battles, the suspects to whom conviction had come without 
what Americans would recognize as a trial, these were mercilessly, 
inhumanly treated. In Jaruco, Maceo, in raiding the town, forced 
the prison gates, and liberated thirty prisoners, who represented some 
of the best families of the surrounding country. In Cienfuegos there 
were over fifty " suspects" held as political prisoners. 

In Matanzas there were at one time eighty such men, and some of 
them were afterward brought to Havana. From Pinar del Rio, Santa 
Clara, Santiago, Candelaria, Marianao and numerous other places, the 
same reports were coming. There was hardly an hour of the day 
that women were not besieging the gates of the Palace with petitions. 
It was a wife pleading for husband, or mother for son, or children for 
father, but it was always the same plea, not for trial, nor to offer evi- 
dence of their innocence, but for mercy, always for mercy. 

There seemed to be a blind conviction that there were no such 
things as trials or evidence, and no ground for hope in either of the 



116 IMPRISONMENTS AND MASSACRES. 

shadowy forms that represent them. These wretched women reached 
the city, perhaps having walked for days, or may be they had horses 
or found some conveyance, but in any way they nearly all made a 
wearisome journey, having left all their worldly possessions or sold 
them to get means for reaching the city, since there were no railroad 
trains left to carry them. 

Haggard and Frightened. 

They were hollow-eyed, haggard and frightened, but in desperate 
earnest. They stood outside the gates or in the corridors of the 
Palace for hours. They made no scenes, as might be expected. They 
simply waited, waited, waited ; put off on one pretext after another, 
hour after hour, till the day had passed. Another day and another, 
they were there, patient and waiting and pleading, but to no pur- 
pose. Some morning a familiar face in the crowd would be missing, 
and that day she might be seen with others down at the shore, watch- 
ing the small boats loading with prisoners and going out to the great 
steamers about to leave with convicts for Africa. Possibly there was 
one last look, but no embrace or word of farewell. After that she was 
seen no more at the Palace. 

It happened one day that one of these prisoners slipped off the 
steps while getting into the boat with the others and fell into the water. 
His arms were pinioned behind him and he was helpless, but he 
managed to struggle to the surface. As he raised his head none of 
the guard reached out to save him. The other prisoners were also 
pinioned and could not. He floated for a few seconds at the side of 
the boat, and then one of the soldiers pointed his rifle down into the 
man's face and shot him through the head. It was simply a murder. 
Nothing was done about it excepting to report that he was " shot 
while attempting to escape." 

On Feb. 22nd there was a brutal massacre at Guatao, and the poor 
wretches made prisoners at the time were still confined in Morro 
Castle, while the government was investigating the slaughter of the 
eighteen citizens. There was no battle in or near Guatao at the time 
these prisoners were made, and that is the other side of the story of 



IMPRISONMENTS AND MASSACRES. 117 

Spain's prisoners of war. There were no prisoners made in battles. 
They were suspects, or, like the Guatao people, escaped from 
massacre. Official reports of engagements almost never made men- 
tion of a prisoner taken. Of twenty encounters reported not one 
return of a captive was recorded. It was always, " The enemy left 
five dead on the field," or some other number. It may be that the 
Cubans were skillful enough to avoid capture, but it was very common 
to have reports of captured Spanish soldiers. 

No Spanish soldiers were ever " left dead on the field," but it was 
admitted by the Spanish generally, and it occasionally crept into a 
report, that Spanish prisoners had simply been stripped of arms and 
let go unmolested out of the rebel camp. 

High-sounding Proclamation. 

But General Weyler had seen the enormity of the abuses which 
brutal and ambitious officers had been guilty of, and went so far as 
to issue a proclamation against such wholesale arrests as followed his 
first decree. On March 6th he gave out the following notice : 

" My attention has been called to the frequency with which civ "1 
and military authorities and commanders of forces in the country 
and towns are proceeding to detain civilians, who are afterward 
placed at my disposal to be deported from the Island, without the 
said commanders duly justifying the foundation which counseled 
such determination." 

That was the Spanish way of saying that arrests had not been 
made upon official evidence. Then General Weyler urged that 
citizens who write anonymous letters should sign their names and 
testify freely, knowing that they would receive ample protection, and 
closed his decree with this warning: 

" I will exact most strict responsibility from commanders who pro- 
pose to me matters of this sort without accompanying them y/itfc the 
elements of justification already expressed." 

General Weyler would not personally assume the responsibility of 
any man's execution or banishment without clear evidence of his 
guilt. It would not be possible to find a man who would more merci- 



118 IMPRISONMENTS AND MASSACRES. 

lessly execute the penalty of the law than Gen. Weyler, but he was 
honest. If he had had men in the field whose motives could have 
been trusted, innocent men's lives might have been safer than they 
were; but take such brutes as murdered sick men and beat women 
into insensibility at Guatao, who referred to their bloody work in a 
report saying : " Glory and infinite applause to our valiant men ; 
worthy of all praise is the comportment of this column ; all merit 
the consideration of your Excellency ; their efforts made exceed all 
praise," and arm the leader of such a mob of assassins with a decree 
making men enemies who sympathize " in thought, word or action " 
with the insurgents, and it is doubtful if even the iron hand of 
General Weyler could hold them in check. 

Shot for Raising a Flag. 

A Frenchman was raising a French flag on his estate when a 
Spanish column came up, shot him dead, captured the flag and madu 
off with it. This is another instance of Gen. Weyler's difficulty in 
controlling the irresponsibles, who made prisoners of " suspects," 
killed innocent people or committed other outrages, and left it to the 
government to square the matter. These were not isolated in- 
stances, but daily occurrences in all parts of the Island. The shoot- 
ing of this French citizen occurred at the Olayita estate, near San 
Domingo. The Cuban commanders, Quintin Bandera, Guerra and 
Seraphim Sanchez were near the town, and passed so close that they 
were observed to have about 1,000 cavalry. 

They were going in the direction of the Olayita plantation. 
Lieut.-Col. Arce and Major Rogelio Anino, with 450 men, followed 
them, leaving Guines. An encounter took place in a strip of woods 
on the edge of the estate, but it amounted to little. The insurgents 
had not enough ammunition to give battle, and the Spanish could do 
nothing but worry them with so continuous a fire with Mausers from 
a distance. The insurgents replied with a few shots, and then broke 
into two detachments and left the woods, one force taking possession 
of the battery, and standing off the Spanish for two hours. There 
was a hot fight at this point. 



IMPRISONMENTS AND MASSACRES. 119 

The insurgents had a sheltered position in the buildings, and 
nursed their precious supply of cartridges until they were where 
their only alternatives were to retreat or to suffer a heavy loss of life 
if they remained till the Spanish could get in upon them. Then the 
order was given and they rode out, setting fire to the cane field over 
which they passed in order to make it impossible for the Spanish to 
follow them through the smoke and flames. When they left, the 
manager of the estate, Bernardo Duarte, ran out of the house with a 
French flag and was about to raise it, when he was shot dead. 

Curious Spanish Reports. 

A Spanish officer took the flag and carried it away. Duarte's 
body was left where he fell. He had taken no part in the fight. 
When the fight was going on Duarte was in the great stone house 
which was the owner's residence. The heavy walls were ample pro- 
tection, and with all the inmates he was apparently safe, for he came 
out when the insurgents left to exhibit the sign of his neutrality. 
Here a curious thing was revealed by the Spanish report of the 
engagement, which said briefly, " We found also a woman and the 
seven farm hands dead." 

There were really thirteen dead. The bodies were buried by 
workmen from an adjoining plantation. There was no one left to 
tell whether they were killed by the Spanish or the rebels. Even 
the Frenchman, Duarte, was shot with his flag in his hands, and the 
Spanish admitted killing him. 

The hundreds of refugees coming into Havana declared that the 
Spanish were shooting the men who were on any estate where they 
could find that a rebel band was camped. Several owners of large 
estates within this province and Matanzas stated that this was un- 
doubtedly true, and that some of their own men, who worked for 
them, had disappeared after a fight had been reported near their 
properties. Others deserted the places and came into the city, refu- 
sing to remain on account of the killing of people near them who 
were likewise caring for abandoned properties. 

On March 5 Gen. Melquizo went out from Jaruco with two battal- 



120 IMPRISONMENTS AND MASSACRES. 

ions of cavalry and infantry, and found some of Maceo's forces at the 
sugar estate Morales, near Casiguas, between Bainoa and Guines. 
The estate was occupied by a man named Jose Gregoria Delgado, 
said to be an American. His son, Jose Manuel Delgado, a doctor, 
was with him at the time the insurgents and Spanish came together. 
As usual, the insurgents made a stand in the buildings, because they 
afford excellent defense. Gen. Melquizo reported after the battle or 
skirmish, or whatever did actually occur, that " we found eighteen 
dead on the field." 

It has developed since that fourteen of these dead men were the 
owner, Delgado, his son and their twelve workmen. Not a man was 
left alive on the estate. If this did not seem on its face to bear con- 
siderable evidence of a deliberate killing of these men, such an act 
would seem to be probable when the Spanish loss is mentioned. 
The Spanish official report said of this engagement that the Spanish 
had only two men wounded, none being killed. 

No One Left Alive. 

If the Spanish, entirely exposed, charged upon the insurgents, who 
were occupying protected positions in stone-walled buildings, and 
succeeded in dislodging them, and did so with no loss whatevei 
there seems to be some reason for doubting that the fighting was 
severe enough to cause eighteen dead to the insurgents in actual combat. 
There was no one left on this estate alive, nor was there any one else 
from whom it would be possible to learn just what did occur, or why 
it was that not one man on the whole estate escaped death. 

Not one of them was wounded. They were all lying there dead 
when people from the surrounding country went there and identified 
the bodies. It is a suspicious circumstance that they were not shot, 
but all were cut to pieces with swords. 

It is easy to understand the alarm that spread over the whole 
Island as the consequence of such things as these. The stories of 
the refugees who were fleeing from every quarter into the cities, and 
chiefly into Havana, gave a dozen such instances. They were not 
tales of frightened negroes. Neither were they coffee-house fabrica- 



IMPRISONMENTS ANI> MASSACRES. 121 

tions of Cubans. A bookful of these tales could be collected. It 
was the men who had estates of their own, whose losses in one year 
alone amounted to anywhere from $50,000 to $200,000, who held on 
and exhausted every resource to save themselves and their properties, 
but who were compelled at last to give up and let everything go. 

They were not men who pack up what kw valuables they can 
cany away and then bring their families and servants long distances 
across the country to Havana, just for the pastime or amusement of 
lying about their reasons for coming. Where alarm had not driven 
out the poorer classes, destitution had done so. Forty-two cities and 
towns had already been burned and destroyed. 

Great Scarcity of Provisions. 

This does not indicate the homes of hundreds of others which 
have gone up in the flames of burning sugar estates. After the 
armies of both Spanish and insurgents consumed all the fruit and 
vegetables, and the railroads ceased carrying freight, .bod was almost 
beyond the reach of the poor. Great was the suffering in conse- 
quence of the scarcity of provisions, but a new system was put in 
operation which deprived even those who had a kw dollars left from 
buying what they needed unless they stood in favor of the Spanish 
commanders of towns. This was a hard matter for people in a 
country where everybody was an insurgent, or of a family with repre- 
sentatives in the insurgent army. 

If a man went to a store in any town outside of Havana he was 
compelled first to make out a statement of what he wished to pur- 
chase. He was limited to two cents' worth of salt, five cents' worth 
of flour, one pound of meat, one pound of rice and five cents' worth 
of coffee, and so on ; but he was not permitted to buy oil, candles, 
medicines, or a multitude of other things. After the list was com- 
pleted, the storekeeper and the customer had to appear before the 
Mayor of the town and swear that the articles were for the consump- 
tion of the purchaser, and not for the aid and comfort of any in- 
surgent or sympathizer with the insurrection. 

When this was done the whole formality cleared the way for the 



122 IMPRISONMENTS AND MASSACRES. 

purchase of about one scanty meal for four persons. This, with the 
apprehension of suspects, was driving the country people out of their 
homes until whole districts were depopulated. Paso Real, Mantua, 
Baja, Guane, Tapaste, San Cristobal, and, in fact, nearly all the towns 
of Pinar del Rio Province, were admitted by the Spanish reports to 
be practically deserted. 

In Havana and Matanzas provinces the same state of affairs ex- 
isted. One man who passed through Guatao and Punta Brava said that 
where there had been 2,200 people all together a month before, less 
than 100 remained. Women came out and begged that he would 
give them food. They were crying, he said, and pleaded for relief to 
be sent out to them. There were a few children left in the places, and 
the desolation he described was something pitiful. The widows 
made by the massacre were chiefly those who remained. When asked 
why they did not get away, and so possibly find a place where they 
could get some relief, they replied that they could not make the 
journey. 

Not a Rebel in the Place. 

The government was investigating the massacre, and the method 
o( the investigation indicated that a denial was in course of prepara- 
tion. Here is a significant fact. The " Diario de la Marina," the 
government's most staunch supporter, published an item which said, 
" The Mayor of Guatao swears and forswears to Captain Calvo that 
at the time of the events in Guatao not a solitary rebel was in the 
place. Two days after the event this Mayor again met Calvo, who 
asked him if he had seen any insurgents there. He replied he had 
not. Notwithstanding, five minutes afterward Captain Calve saw a 
group of eight men mounted, who ran away." 

This was clearly to discredit the Mayor of Guatao. He confirmed 
the story of all the citizens, and swore that no insurgents were in the 
town when the massacre occurred. It also indicated that Captain 
Calvo, who was in command of the troops who committed the mas- 
sacre, was conducting the investigation. 

It would not be in keeping with the way all this was being done if 
the " Diario's " story were not declared by somebody to be untrue. 



IMPRISONMENTS AND MASSACRES. 123 

The gentleman above referred to was in Guatao at the time Captain 
Calvo was talking with the Mayor. He describes what occurred 
this way : 

" I saw they were holding an excited debate about something, so 
I held up my driver till it was over. Then I talked to the Alcalde, 
and asked what occasioned all the fireworks between himself and the 
officer. He replied, ' I have just been asked about the rebels. I said 
I had seen four ; he tells me, " You lie, you have seen a hundred.'" 
I have only seen four, and they are down that road now.' " 

Charges Proved Untrue. 

If the Mayor told the story just as it had occurred between him- 
self and the officer a moment before, the account of it in the news- 
paper was an apparent attempt to clear the way for almost any sort 
of a report on the massacre. It would be easier after proving the 
chief witness unreliable to dispose of the stories of the women as 
attempts to shield their husbands. The government also took the 
ground that the insurgents were concealed in the church. This made 
it necessary to abandon the original charge that they were in the 
ittle thatched houses. 

The authorities of Guatao opened the church and showed the 
officers, who went there to inspect it, that no horses or men could 
possibly have gotten into it. When this inspection was finished, the 
keeper of the church handed over the key, and the Mayor joined 
him in beseeching the Spanish officers to carry it away, so that what- 
ever might happen again they would be relieved of the responsibility 
for keeping the structure free from invasion. 

Ten more prisoners were taken at the time this investigation, as it 
is called, was going on. A Spanish column came into Punta Brava 
from the east. At the same moment another came into the place 
from the west. The second one picked up ten men working in 
tobacco fields on the outskirts of the town. A storekeeper, recog- 
nizing them, went up to the lieutenant commanding, and said that 
the arrests were unjust, as the men were " pacificados," or peaceful 
citizens 




_j____l__iil^ :■:- .- '^ ■i»i'iliiW | M 



124 



IMPRISONMENTS AND MASSACRES. 126 

Then the lieutenant arrested the storekeeper. The two coiumns 
were at opposite ends of the main street, their officers disputing as 
to which was properly in possession of the place, as their orders were 
sSightly conflicting, when a third column arrived with a captain in 
charge. He settled the difficulty by occupying the town himself, 
and after learning of the arrest of the ten tobacco-workers he liber- 
ated them all. 

Heavy Guard of Soldiers. 

The demonstrations against Americans in Havana were confined to 
individual encounters, where there were no serious results. A heavy 
guard of soldiers was quartered in a building near the Consul's 
office, and the patrolling of the streets was kept up with vigilance 
day and night. Where more than four men got together a soldier 
was at hand to scatter them. In the Plaza, when the military was 
playing, the crowds were constantly kept moving. An effort to get 
up a students' demonstration fell flat, because a majority of the 
students were in sympathy with the Americans. 

There never was a time when the students were to be feared, on 
that account. The source of danger was the volunteers. A corre- 
spondent relates that he was talking with a hotel waiter after he had 
been away for a day. He said he was out doing duty as a volun- 
teer. He was a little sawed-off ignoramus, and the correspondent 
was curious enough to ask him how his companions felt toward 
Uncle Sam. 

" Muera Senor Sam," he hissed, bringing his fist down with a 
whack on the table. 

" Death to Mr. Sam ?" I repeated. " Why so ?" 

■' He is going to help the insurrectors. We'll have to kill them 
all." 

" But I'm an American ; would you kill me, too ?" 

He seemed to be confronted by a situation for a moment only, 
when he said, sadly but earnestly : 

" I am your friend, Senor, but I should have to kill you." 

At that moment another Spaniard came up. " Senor, allow me to 
present my friend -. As 1 was just telling this American gentle- 



126 IMPRISONMENTS AND MASSACRES. 

man, Spain will find every loyal son shoulder to shoulder, fighting 
till the last drop of blood is shed to avenge such an insult to our 
national honor as this uncalled-for interference of America." 

This is not half-hearted hypocrisy. It is the way men talk who 
have been ruined by the collapse of every kind of business in the 
Island, and who want peace and prosperity restored at any cost. 
They are Spaniards, but they have been so long in commercial inter- 
course with the United States that their sentimental attachment to 
the theory of Spain's right to Cuba has been blunted by a period of 
successful business. All Cuba's enterprises are practically insepara- 
ble from the States, while Spain stands by as a third party, consum- 
ing half the profits that would naturally accrue to the other two. At 
such a price sentiment comes too high to maintain a secure position 
among hard-headed merchants. 

The Cienfuegos houses resolved to boycott the United States, and 
proposed to do so by cancelling all their purchasing orders and refu- 
sing to sell to American buyers. This was considerable of a joke in 
its way. They would have to buy from Havana instead, and Havana 
would continue to buy direct from the States until war or something 
as serious should prevent. The merchants at Havana held a meeting 
to discuss retaliation of the same sort, but when it was pointed out 
to them that American houses wouiu merely send out their own 
agents to sell their products they saw the danger ahead and con- 
tented themselves with resolutions praising the Cienfuegos merchants. 
They could afford to do that, as their commissions were being helped 
by the necessity of Cienfuegos buying here. 

Two nephews of the Queen, the Princes of Caserta, were in an 
engagement in Sagua on March 3. The insurgents were led by 
Serafin Sanchez, Nunez and Alvarez. All that has ever been printed 
about the fight here was contained in a ten-line item, in which the 
insurgents lost thirty dead and forty wounded. The Queen cabled 
congratulations to General Weyler upon the glorious victory, and 
yesterday the insurgent loss was changed to read " 60 dead and 
1 50 wounded." It is impossible to learn anything els 3 here about 
the battle. 



CHAPTER XI 
Freedom for Cuba. 

THE sympathy in Congress for the cause of Cuba received 
formal expression on February 28th. On that date the meet- 
ing of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations resulted 
in action of a more vigorous character than the most ardent friend ot 
the cause of Cuba was justified in expecting. The committee de- 
cided, after some debate, that it would not accept the wording of a 
resolution already adopted by the House Committee, but would 
cling to one of its own, which was looked upon as even stronger than 
any yet seriously considered — stronger because the committee capit- 
ulated to the sentiment represented in the resolution of Mr. Cameron 
declaring for the independence of the Cuban Republic. 

It was agreed that when the question reached the voting stage Mr. 
Sherman, for the commiteee, was to recommend and urge the passage 
of the following, which was the language of the substitute reported 
by Mr. Morgan : 

" Resolved, by the Senate (the House of Representatives concur- 
ring), That, in the opinion of Congress, a condition of public war 
exists between the government of Spain and the government pro- 
claimed and for some time maintained by force of arms by the peo- 
ple of Cuba ; and that the United States of America should maintain 
a strict neutrality between the contending powers, according to each 
all the rights of belligerents in the ports ix.ua territory of the United 
States." 

As the day wore on in the Senate the crowds in the galleries and 
on the floor increased. The diplomatic gallery, for once, was well 
filled. Nearly every member of the House Foreign Affairs Commit- 
tee was on the Senate floor, and they listened to the speeches with 
the greatest interest. 

127 



128 FREEDOM FOR CUBA. 

Mr. Lindsay, of Kentucky, addressed the Senate. He did not 
think that, in the present emergency, the subject ought to be con- 
trolled, in any way, by the past conduct of Spain to the United 
States. It was, in one sense, a question of humanity. War was 
being carried on at the very doors of the United States between the 
people of Cuba and the Spanish Government, and it would result 
either in the independence of Cuba or in the utter destruction of her 
people. 

Sympathy for Ouban People. 

Expressions of sympathy would avail nothing to the vjuban insur- 
rectionists. If the United States intended to take any step to bring 
about a condition of affairs in Cuba different from that which had 
existed during the last seventy years, that step should be in the 
direction of the ultimate independence of Cuba. 

It might be true — it was true — that affairs had not yet reached a 
point that would justify the United States in acknowledging the inde- 
pendence of Cuba. There was a state of things in Cuba that would 
justify the Government of the United States in considering a proposi- 
tion for active interference in the struggle, for the reason that it 
seemed highly probable that, without such interference, either public 
order could never be restored in Cuba, or could only be restored 
after such suffering by humanity and such injuries to surrounding 
States, as would obviously overbalance the general evil of all inter- 
ference from without. But the pending resolution proposed no such 
active interference. It proposed only that the good offices of the 
United States should be offered to Spain to bring about, not merely 
a cessation of hostilities, but an ultimate peace on the basis of Cuban 
independence — the only basis on which good government could ever 
be secured to the people of Cuba. 

Spain owed to Cuba as much as Turkey owed to Armenia, as 
much as the United States owed to Venezuela. If Spain did not pay 
the obligations resting on her, and if her necessities prevented her 
doing so, then the time had come for steps to be initiated ; and they 
could be properly initiated only by the government of the United 
States Overtures should be made to Spain for the sale of the 



FREEDOM FOR CUBA. 129 

Island to the Cubans, the United States to guarantee the p.iyment of 
che sum to be agreed upon. 

Mr. Sherman, chairman of the Committee on Foreign Relations, 
addressed the Senate. He said that he did not disguise from himself 
the danger and possibility of hostile movements following the action 
of Congress. Spain was a sensitive, proud and gallant nation, and 
would not submit to what she considered an injustice. At the same 
time, his convictions were strong — made stronger every day — that 
the condition of affairs in Cuba was such that the intervention of the 
United States must be given, sooner or later, to put an end to crimes 
almost beyond description. 

Called a Murderer and Criminal, 

He quoted from a pamphlet written, he said, in a temperate style, 
to show what the Cubans had done in the way of establishing a gov- 
ernment and carrying on the war, and containing an order of Gen, 
Maximo Gomez, as to the humane treatment of prisoners that might 
fall into the hands of the insurgents. And yet, he said, this man 
Gomr.z had been denounced as a murderer and barbarous criminal, 
like the one he would speak of after a while — Capt.-Gen. Weyler. 
Speaking of the insurgent Gen. Gomez, Mr. Sherman said that he 
was a man of standing and character — probably an idealist. But he 
ought to be, and would probably soon be, considered a patriot. 

Mr. Sherman went on to say that he was not in favor of the 
annexation of Cuba to the United States. He did not desire to con- 
quer Cuba, or to have any influence in her local autonomy. In his. 
judgment Cuba should be attached to Mexico, because Cubans and 
Mexicans spoke the same language, had the same origin, the same 
antecedents, and many of the same circumstances. 

Mr. Sherman sent to the clerk's desk, and had read extracts from 
a Spanish '^ook, printed in a New York newspaper, reciting horrible 
cruelties charged against Weyler, some of the incidents being so bad 
that he directed the clerk to omit them. He spoke of these deed? as 
barbarous atrocities, and as inhuman cruelties, and said that Weyler 
"vas a demon rather than a general. 
J 



130 FREEDOM FOR CUBA. 

He denounced the idea of putting such a man in command of a 
hundred thousand troops, to ride rough-shod, kill and slaughter a 
feeble body of people ; and he declared that if this kind of policy is 
pursued by Spain in Cuba, and if the people of the United States be 
informed of it, there is no earthly power that will prevent the people 
of the United States from going over to that Island, running all over 
its length and breadth, and driving out from it those robbers and imi- 
tators of the worst men that ever lived in the world. 

This statement was greeted by an outburst of applause from the 
crowded galleries, which showed the intense feeling awakened by the 
discussion of the subject of Cuban independence. 

Belligerent Rights. 

When the final vote on Mr. Sherman's resolution was taken in the 
Senate it was passed by a large majority, but there was an evident 
desire on the part of many in both Houses to grant belligerent rights 
to the Cubans, who had already maintained a state of war on the 
Island for over a year. Concerning this last proposition an eminent 
New York jurist expressed the following opinion : 

" The mere recognition of belligerent rights on the part of the 
Cubans would not involve us in any complication with Spain. 
It is a different thing from recognizing the independence of the 
Cubans. 

" The recognition of belligerent rights is merely the declaration of 
our opinion that the insurgents have established a stable government 
and are entitled to all the rights of war. This was what was done by 
Great Britain during our late war. 

" Such a recognition, however, would not relieve the United Statea 
of its obligations toward Spain in the way of preventing the sending 
out of privateers or filibustering expeditions in aid of the insurgents 
from our ports. We established this proposition in the 'Alabama* 
arbitration against Great Britain. 

" Furthermore, such recognition of a state of war between Spain 
and the insurgents in Cuba would give Spain the right to search our 
merchant vessels for goods contraband of war. This is the only 



FREEDOM FOR CUBA. J 31 

respect in which our relations with Spain would be particularly altered 
by such recognition, as far as I can see." 

" What would be our relations in case Congress should recognize 
the independence of Cuba? " was asked. 

" That recognition might be treated by Spain as an unfriendly act, 
although I should hardly think that Spain would so regard it. It 
would not amount to a declaration on our part that we proposed to 
aid Cuba in the maintenance of its independence, and hence it would 
not necessarily be a casus belli (cause of war) as between us and Spain. 

" Still it might involve us in serious complications, as we would be 
bound to regard the insurgent government as the only lawful govern- 
ment in the Island of Cuba, and to act accordingly and to disregard 
the rights of Spain. And such conduct on our part might lead to 
controversies with Spain which might furnish a casus belli. I do not 
personally believe, however, that such a result will follow in any 
event." 

Probability of Bloodshed. 

It was thought by many in Washington that if the Cuban insurgents 
were not quickly recognized as belligerents, and General Weyler 
maintained the reputation he had already acquired, it was not stretch- 
ing speculation too far to assume that there was a probabiltty of the 
bloody scenes of 1869 being re-enacted, when, under the orders of 
Gen. Burriel, American citizens were put to death in Santiago de Cuba. 

The Captain-General of Cuba had issued a decree in which he said 
that all vessels which might be captured in Spanish waters, and which 
had on board men and munitions, and whose design was to give aid 
01 comfort to the revolutionists, should be regarded as pirates, and 
that all on board, regardless of number, should be immediately 
executed. 

Secretary Fish, then Secretary of State, made ; — potest against the 
butchery of the Americans, and maintained the right of the citizens 
of the United States to carry merchandise to the enemies of Spain, 
except such articles as were contraband of war, and which might be 
seized upon the high seas. Secretary Fish said the government 
could not assent to the punishment by Spain of any citizen of this 



132 FREEDOM FOR CUBA. 

country, except under the laws and treaties existing between Spain 
and the United States. 

According to Halleck, one of the accepted authorities on laws 
between nations, " there is no law or regulation which forbids any 
person or government, whether the political designation be real or 
assumed, from purchasing arms from citizens of the United States 
and shipping them at the risk of the purchaser." The same authority 
says further : " Neutrals may establish themselves for the purposes 
of trade in ports convenient to either belligerent, and may sell or 
transport to either such articles as they may wish to buy, subject to 
risks of capture for violation of blockade or for the conveyance of 
contraband to belligerent ports." 

Exceptions to the Rule. 

" A belligerent cannot send out privateers from neutral ports. 
Neutrals in their own country may sell to belligerents whatever 
belligerents choose to buy. The principal exceptions to this rule are 
that neutrals must not sell to one belligerent what they refuse to sell 
to another, and must not furnish soldiers or sailors to either, rtor pre- 
pare nor suffer to be prepared within their territory armed ships or 
military or naval expeditions against the other." 

The position in which the United States would be placed by the 
recognition of the belligerency of the Cubans is clearly and tersely 
expressed by Justice Harlan, of the Supreme Court of the United 
States, in an opinion in the case of Ford vs. Surget. It is based on a 
careful and exhaustive study of the comity of nations, and the parts 
that appear applicable to the present situation are as follows : 

" If the foreign State recognizes belligerency in the insurgents it 
releases the parent State for whatever maybe done by the insurgents, 
or not aone by the parent State, where the insurgent power extends. 

" If it is a war, the commissioned cruisers of both sides may stop, 
search and capture the foreign merchant vessel, and that vessel must 
make no resistance and must submit to adjudication by a prize court 
if it is not war, the cruisers of neither party can stop or search the 
foreign merchant vessel, and that vessel may resist all attempts in 



FREEDOM FOR CUBA. 133 

that direction, and the ships of war of the foreign State may attack 
and capture any cruiser persisting in the attempt; if it is war, the 
insurgent cruisers are to be treated by foreign citizens and officials, 
at sea and in port, as lawful belligerents ; if it is a war, the rules and 
risks respecting carrying contraband or dispatches or military persons, 
come into play. 

" The insurgents gain the great advantage of a recognized status 
(when belligerent rights are accorded), and the opportunity to employ 
commissioned cruisers at sea, and to exert all the powers known to 
maritime warfare, with the sanction of foreign nations. They can 
obtain abroad loans, military and naval materials, as against every- 
thing but neutrality laws. 

What Rights are Acquired. 

" Their flag and commissions are acknowledged, their revenue laws 
are respected, and they acquire a quasi-political recognition. On the 
other hand, the parent government is relieved from responsibility for 
acts done in the insurgent territory; its blockade of its own ports is 
respected, and it acquires a right to exert against neutral commerce 
all the powers of a party to a maritime war." 

It was thought altogether probable that Spain would immediately 
enter a protest, if the belligerency of the insurgents was recognized, 
just as the United States did in the early days of the civil war, when 
France took that action. The then Secretary of State, William H. 
Seward, acknowledged the right of France to take such a step in 
these words : 

" The President (Mr. Lincoln) does not deny — on the contrary, lie 
maintains — that every sovereign power decides for itself, on its respon- 
sibility, the question whether or not it will at a given time accord the 
status of belligerency to the insurgent subjects of another power, as 
also the larger question of the independence of such subjects and 
their accession to the family of sovereign States." 

As to the contention by Spain that war did not exist in Cuba; 
that there was a revolt against constituted authority, by a mob of 
rioters, this was pretty thoroughly disposed of by the opinion of the 



134 FREEDOM FOR CUBA. 

Supreme Court of the United States about twenty years ago. It has 
never been changed or abridged. 

" A civil war," said Judge Grier, giving the opinion in what is 
known as the Prize Cases, " is never solemnly declared ; it becomes 
such by its accidents, the number, power and organization of the 
persons who originate and carry it on. When the party in rebellion 
occupy and hold in a hostile manner a certain portion of territory ; 
have declared their independence; have cast off their allegiance; have 
organized armies; have commenced hostilities, the world acknowl- 
edges them as belligerents, and the contest a war." 

The Resolutions Adopted. 

After much discussion in Congress concerning the form that the 
resolutions should take, making the action of the two Houses con- 
current, on April 6th, 1896, by the decisive and emphatic vo':e of 
244 yeas to 27 nays the House of Representatives passed the Senate 
concurrent resolutions declaring that public war exists in Cuba, and 
granting belligerent rights to the insurgents. 

Public interest in the Cuban question was manifested by «.ne people 
of Washington, and long before the noon hour the Capitol corridors 
were thronged. When the House of Representatives was called to 
order there was standing-room only in the galleries, and long lines 
of waiting people filled the corridors before the entrance doors. 
There were no proceedings of unusual moment on the floor of the 
House. There was no debate and no opposition to the proceedings. 

Congressman Hitt, of Illinois, Chairman of the Committee on For- 
eign Affairs, arose and demanded the regular order, and Speaker 
Reed put the question on the adoption of the conference report. 
The great, swelling chorus of ayes was followed by a feeble, scatter- 
ing negative vote, and the Speaker was about to declare the motion 
carried when Mr. Hitt asked for the yeas and nays. Yielding to the 
appeals of many members, however, he withdrew it; but Mr. Tucker, 
of Virginia, demanded a record-making vote, and so the roll was 
called. 

When Speaker Reed announced that " The yeas are 244 and the 



FREEDOM FOR CUBA. 135 

nays 27, and the resolutions are adopted," the applause upon the 
floor of the House and in the galleries was roof-shaking in its inten- 
sity and continuity. 

By its action the House agreed to the Senate resolutions, and 
disposed of the Cuban question. These resolutions are as follows : 

Resolved, That, in the opinion of Congress, a condition of public 
war exists between the Government of Spain and the government 
proclaimed and for some time maintained by force of arms by the 
people of Cuba, and that the United States of America should main- 
tain a strict neutrality between the contending powers, according to 
each all the rights of belligerents in the ports and territory of the 
United States. 

Resolved, Further, that the friendly offices of the United States 
should be offered by the President to the Spanish Government for 
the recognition of the independence of Cuba. 



CHAPTER XII. 
Spanish Insults to the American Flag. 

GREAT excitement was caused in Spain by the passage of the 
resolutions in the United States Senate relating to the inde- 
pendence of Cuba, and in a number of places the American 
flag was torn down and trampled upon by boisterous mobs. As show- 
ing the spirit by which the crowds were actuated, we give here a 
detailed account of the insults, which it is but just to the Spanish 
authorities to say they repudiated, calling out troops in some instances 
to protect our American officials and their residences. 

At Madrid on March 2nd, 1896, there was a demonstration oi 
students against the American legation, but before any overt acts had 
been committed the mob was dispersed by the authorities. The ex- 
citement over the Cuban question was intense. The prompt measures 
taken by the authorities to suppress disorder and prevent demonstra- 
tions, large forces of police being everywhere present, convinced the 
people that lawless acts would not be tolerated. 

At Barcelona mounted gendarmes were kept busy patrolling the 
city and dispersing gatherings of persons plotting to vent their wrath 
upon the representatives of the United States Government there. Re- 
peated attempts were made to attack the United States Consulate. 
The rioters were repeatedly charged by the police and scattered, only 
to form in some other place with a determination to mob the Con- 
sulate. Such tenacity of purpose indicated that mischief-makers were 
working upon the excited populace. 

The greatest activity was displayed in the government dockyards, 
and every preparation possible was being made by the naval and 
military forces for an emergency. 

The " Imparcial," a Madiid journal, declared that the utterances oi 
the United States Senate constituted an " unqualified and unreasoning 
136 




137 



138 INSULTS TO THE AMERICAN FLAG. 

provocation," adding : " If the desire for war was on account of a 
fault in Spain, the Senators would be doing their duty. But no pro- 
vocation has been given to the United States, and ti e Americans 
judge rashly of the results of a Spanish- American war. The ob- 
noxious language of the Senate ought not to surprise any one. 
United States Senators are accustomed to exchange gross insults 
without crossing swords or exchanging bullets. These are the 
cowards who are seeking war, and one awaits death with more cool- 
ness with a good conscience than with pockets filled with dollars." 

The Spanish officials at Washington described the occurrences in 
Spain as merely the outbursts of a few excited Spanish youths, and 
claimed that the dispatches bore out this view, and there was no 
probability of any diplomatic trouble. The prompt disavowal of the 
Minister of State to Minister Taylor was pointed to as evidence that 
the Spanish Government did not sympathize with the " mob." 

"Down with the United States/ 

An anti-American demonstration occurred at Cadiz, Spain, March 
7. A mob of about 500 students met in Genove's Park. They carried 
two Spanish flags, and, after cheering some fiery utterances, paraded 
before the town hall with cries of " Long live Spain ! " " Down with 
the United States ! " etc. Later, they proceeded to a tobacco factory 
and asked the manager to permit the workmen to join in the demon- 
stration. The manager, however, refused and called upon the police 
for protection. The latter charged the mob with drawn swords, and 
several of the students were wounded before they were driven away 
from the vicinity of the factory. 

After leaving that neighborhood the students made a demonstra- 
tion in front of the military club. There the police were again 
ordered to charge the mob. This time the students showered stones 
upon the police and were dispersed with much more difficulty. The 
authorities anticipated additional outbreaks. 

The orchestra of the Grand Theatre at Barcelona played the 
national march, and the audience rose with enthusiastic shouts of 
'* Long live Spain ! " " Long live General Weyler ! " " Long live the 



INSULTS TO THE AMERICAN FLAG. 



1 39 



army!" " Down with the United States!" etc. The audience, after 
leaving the theatre, was joined by very many other people, and 
paraded the streets, uttering similar shouts. The demonstrations took 
such proportions that the police were unable to disperse the crowds, 
and it became necessary to 
call out the gendarmes, who, 
with a considerable show of 
force, succeedecf in quelling 
the disturbance, 

There was an anti- Ameri- 
can riot at Bi'.boa, Spain, 
March 9, and it was or' greater 
importance than the previous 
so-called patriotic disturb- 
ances caused by the action of 
the Congress of the United 
States in regard to Cuba. 
About 12,000 people took 
part in the public demonstra- 
tion. The excitement was 
started by a group of young 

men at a street corner, who began cheering every soldier who passed 
by. Their conduct was soon imitated by other groups of people, until 
every soldier seen was cheered by the crowds, and some musicians 
who refused to repeat the national -»nthem were iiustled, beaten and 
otherwise maltreated. 

The excitement increased, and riotous groups formed in the main 
streets, cheering for Spain and denouncing the United States. The 
authorities did everything possible to maintain order. Almost the 
entire police force was turned out as soon as the populace assumed a 
threatening aspect, and the rioters were dispersed again and again. 
Eventually, however, the mob became so numerous and excited that 
the police were almost helpless. 

After the first demonstrations of sympathy with the army the crowds 
had armed themselves with sticks and cudgels, and their numbers 




GENERAL ^'EYLER. 



140 INSULTS TO THE AMERICAN FLAG. 

were so great that the police were swept aside and an immense crowc 
o-athered on the leading thoroughfare, and marched towards the resi- 
dence of the United States Consul, shouting, " Long live Spain ! ' 
" Down with the Yankees ! " 

On their way to the Consul's residence they hurled stones through 
the windows of stores and private residences, overturned a number o f 
vehicles, pulled several mounted policemen from their horses and 
generally behaved in the most threatening manner. Stores dealing 
in American goods received the most attention from the mob, and 
the windows of the Consul's house were badly shattered, althougl 
the police defended the building. 

The mob then proceeded in the direction of the United States Con- 
sulate, evidently intending to stone the building as well. But the 
authorities had taken the precaution to send a strong force of police 
to guard that building and another detachment of police was stationed 
across the streets leading to the Consulate. Therefore when the mob 
neared the United States Consulate it was confronted by the police 
with drawn swords. The mob halted, and then began pelting the 
police most vigorously with stones and pieces of brick. 

The policemen, however, held their ground, and a squad of the 
officers charged the rioters. The latter began firing pistols at the 
policemen, two of whom were wounded. This caused the police to 
charge in a body, and, using their swords with good effect, the rioters 
were dispersed, yelling and hooting at the authorities and shouting, 
" Down with the Yankees ! " and " Long live Spain ! " 

The police, who made a number of arrests, experienced considera- 
ble difficulty in escorting their prisoners to the depots. During the 
whole afternoon there was more or less disorder. It was decided to 
keep both the police proper and the gendarmes confined to barracks 
until further orders, as there seemed to be danger of another out- 
break. 

The United States Consulate was guarded by a strong detachment 
of gendarmes armed with carbines, revolvers and swords, and they 
had instructions to protect the Consulate at any cost. 

There was a serious anti-American riot at Salamanca March gth. 



INSULTS TO THE AMERICAN FLAG. 141 

The students, as usual, were the leaders of the disturbance. They 
carried Spanish and American flags and burned the latter amid the 
acclamations of the crowds which gathered to witness the "patriotic" 
demonstration. 

Cheering for Spain. 

Eventually the gendarmes charged the rioters and dispersed them 
temporarily. Later the students reassembled and gathered another 
mob about them. The prefect hurried to the scene and exhorted the 
students to disperse, but they hooted his utterances, cheering for 
Spain and denouncing the United States. 

Finally the prefect was compelled to call upon the police for pro- 
tection, and the gendarmes again charged the riotous students, who 
met the onslaught with showers of stones. Order, however, was 
finally restored, and the university was closed. The authorities 
feared there would be more outbreaks, and more elaborate precau- 
tions were taken to promptly suppress them. 

A dispatch from Madrid, March 12th, was as follows: "Further 
demonstrations of students against the United States, as a result of 
the Cuban resolutions of Congress, have occurred. At Corunna two 
hundred students belonging to the University joined in a parade yes- 
terday, cheered for Spain and burned an American flag. The police, 
however, succeeded in preventing the rioters from approaching ths 
United States Consulate. 

" At Alicante the Mayor and police, while dispersing a similar anti- 
American demonstration, were pelted with stones. A number of 
policemen sustained injuries. 

" A dispatch from Barcelona says that on the arrival there last 
night of a train from Aragon two men were arrested upon a charge 
of carrying concealed weapons. When a search of their clothing 
was made, thirty dynamite cartridges and two daggers were dis- 
covered. The men asserted they had found the cartridges upon the 
road, and declared that they had come to Barcelona in search of 
work. The police discredit their story. The United States Con- 
sulate is being closely guarded." 



CHAPTER XIII. 
Horrors of Morro Castle. 

HAVANA may, undoubtedly, be called a military city; for at 
every corner you meet a soldier, before nearly every public 
office there is a guard, and at various hours of the day and 
evening, and in various parts of the city, one's ear is greeted by th t 
notes of the bugle, or the rattling of the drum ; while many of the 
barracks and a fort or two are right in the midst of the city. 

At night, sometimes, these sentries are troublesome with their 
challenging, in an open city ; and if one approaches too near their 
posts, he hears the words, quickly rung out, "Who goes there?" 
{Quicn vive ?) As a reply has to be made, the Habaneros say, 
" £s/>ana > " the regular pass-word. An American finds no trouble in 
replying, " Forastero" (foreigner), or "Americano" But now-a-days, 
die latter might be dangerous, as the iiame does not seem to be 
popular. 

A great deal of good sense has been displayed in uniforming the 
troops for this climate. In lieu of the heavy cloth, the Cuban sol- 
diers are clad in simple linen, of various colors — white, blue and 
brown — than which nothing can look more soldierly. Take, for 
instance, the infantry soldier, in full uniform. He wears a sort o( 
dark blue dungaree blouse, gathered at the waist to give it a natty 
shape, a pair of neat brown-drilling pantaloons, and a low-crowned 
cap of leather, with visor enough to be of some use. 

In lieu of the stiff, uncomfortable coat collar, and the still more 
uncomfortable and unhealthy leather stock, he wears a neatly rolled 
collar, of red cloth, which, with his cuffs of the same, can be taken 
off when he sends his kit to the wash. 

Others, again, are uniformed in pure white, with pretty " shouldef 
knockers," and collars and cuffs of red; while the cavalry and artii 
142 



HORRORS OF MORRO CASTLE. 1 1:> 

lerymen wear loose short jackets, pants of blue linen, and broad 
palm-leaf hats. This uniform, far from being uncomfortable or 
unsoldierly, is just the opposite ; and Spanish troops have the appear- 
ince of clean and well-instructed soldiers. 

The Captain-General is the superior military chief of the Island, 
and commander-in-chief of its armies ; while next to him in rank is 
the second chief, who has the rank of brigadier-general, and pay of 
ten thousand dollars per annum, and who is also the sub-inspector of 
infantry and cavalry. The corps of artillery and engineers have 
special sub-inspectors, with the title of mariscales de campo. 

The fortresses of the Island, in which are nearly always the prisons 
and the barracks of the troops, have their owi. governors or com- 
manders, with special staffs. 

Large Standing Army- 

The army consists generally of twenty-five or thirty thousand men, 
with its proportion of infantry, artillery, cavalry, engineers and 
marines. Each regiment has a colonel and lieutenant-colonel, 3 
drum-major, and six contract musicians. The battalion has a first 
and second commander, an adjutant (lieutenant), an ensign, a chap- 
lain, and a surgeon, a chief bugler, and a master armorer. These 
regiments are all known by names (not numbers), such as the King's, 
the Queen's, Isabel II. of Naples, of Spain, etc., which does much 
towards increasing the esprit du corps so necessary to make good 
soldiers. 

There is also a battalion known as the " Guardia Civil," a fine 
body of men, who are scattered in small detachments throughout the 
Island, mostly as watchmen and police, or, perhaps, as spies. They 
are generally an intelligent set, handsomely uniformed in well fitting, 
dark-blue coats, white pants, and broad-brimmed felt hats, neatly 
bound with white. One sees them on the wharves, in the opera- 
house, at the theatre, patrolling the paseo — in fact, everywhere in 
Havana. 

A large percentage of the troops die every year when they first 
come from Spain, and therefore a large supply of recruits is neces- 



144 HORRORS OF MORRO CASTLE. 

sary to keep the regiments up to their maximum. The pay of held, 
staff, and line is about the same as in our army, being double that 
which is received in Spain ; though, as some of the officers declare, 
" half pay " is more at home (Spain) than double pay in Cuba, every- 
thing costs so much more on the Island. 

Havana is said to be impregnable. If it is not, it ought to be, 
judging from the number of its stone walls, its frowning fortresses, 
and its ships of war ; and yet it is not so strong as it looks. The 
day is past for the simple, old-fashioned ways o< attack by buccaneers, 
and new modes of war make sad inroads upon the protection 
afforded by some of these old-time forts. 

Warning to Filibusters. 

The Morro and La Punta command the entrance. Across the bay 
is the Cabanas, with its guns pointing in every direction, and at the 
end of the bay the Fortress of Santo Domingo de Atares, which 
commands the bay and holds the city itself under surveillance. East 
and west, La Punta, El Morro, Cabanas, Number Four, Principe, 
San Lazaro, Pastora, and the Tower of Chorrera give notice to the 
adventurous filibuster to " keep off." 

The Castillo de los tres Santos Reyes del Morro, and the Fortress 
of San Carlos de la Cabana are the ones which every traveler desires 
to see, and which every one, if it is possible, should visit, as they are 
world-renowned, in addition to being well worth seeing, not only on 
account of their structure, but on account of the magnificent views 
of sea and land from their battlements. 

In former years, it was a matter of some difficulty to gain entrance 
to these forts, and it is not now accomplished very easily. Of course, 
our consul is the person to secure passes to the forts ; he always 
obliges such parties of Americans as desire to visit them, unless in 
war times. The authorities have a regular printed form of passes, 
Starting from the landing just outside the Puerta de la Punta, it is 
only a short pull directly across to the landing of El Morro, 

Strolling up the slope from the landing, one begins to realize im- 
mediately the apparently great strength of the work. The slope itself 



HORRORS OF MORkO CASTLE. L4a 

which conducts up to the main gate of the castle is ver^> strong/ 
with solid stone parapets on each side, and a road laid in mortal 
with small, regular-sized cobble-stones. To the left, almost on a line 
with the water, is the water battery known as the " Twelve Apostles/' 
— twelve iron guns, mounted on siege carriages, carrying twenty- 
four pound shot, and worked en barbette, which would give them 
great effect at short range on any vessel attempting to pass. 

Although the soldieis of whom you ask questions in the fort either 
dare not or will not tell anything, yet they are useful guides. The 
walls here at the entrance are very thick, you notice, and form case- 
mates, the one to the right being the guard-room, which is also 
occupied by the officer of the day, who sometimes strolls through 
the fort with foreigners. 

A Dismal Old Fort. 

In front of ^ne entrance are the barracks and the storehouses, 
vhich seem to occupy the hollow square formed by the walls of this 
portion of the fort. They are of solid stone, with their rooms arched, 
ceiled, and paved in stone, the bunks of the men being simply cots. 
Looking towards the harbor is the casemate battery, mounting about 
eight guns. The whole of this first fort, which seems to be separated 
from the citadel by drawbridges, is very cramped and very dismal. 

On the extreme corner of the fort, at the very mouth of the 
entrance to the bay, stands the O'Donnell light-house, a cylindrical 
tower of stone, seventy-eight feet in height from the wall of the 
castle, and fifteen feet in diameter, being altogether one hundred and 
fifty-eight feet above the level of the sea. The light is of the first 
order of Fresnel, fixed, but alternated with large reflectors that ; hine, 
every half minute, for about five or six seconds. It is ordinarily seen 
at a distance of eighteen miles, though in fine weather at a greater 
distance. 

Near the light-house, but upon the terreplain of the portion above, 

is a small frame house, used as the signal-station, where are kept the 

signal-flags, which are displayed from the masts close by; there arc 

so many flags and signals ol all hatioiiS, that the interior of the house 
10 



U6 HORRORS OF MukRO CASTLE. 

looks quite like a dry-goods store. This portion of the fort is reached 
by a stone slope leading up between the quarters, or by a narrow 
spiral stone stairway inside the walls, coming out upon a concrete 
terreplain protected by stone parapets, pierced with embrasures for 
cannon. 

From the parapet there is a fine view of the sea, the city, and the 
surrounding country. Here, also, can be seen the full lines of the 
land-face of the fort and the position of the others. 

A Frowning Battery. 

The moat is a dry and very deep one, the scarp walls of which are 
fully one hundred feet high, and the width full fifty feet. From the 
battlements one can see how much nature did for this fort in the 
begitMiing; for from the sea-side directly up to the counter-scarp, 
there is a natural glacis, commanded completely from every part by 
v he guns en barbette in this part of the fort. The strongest battery, 
and the only one that really looks as though it were ready for work, 
is the one to the extreme right of the fort, entered by a covered way, 
and forming the sea-coast battery. 

It mounts about twenty-four iron guns, of thirty-two pounds cali- 
bre, on siege carriages, and appears to be a very strong battery 
Just after entering the fort, by the Stone slope, inside the exterior 
wall, there is to the right hand a long stone-covered gallery, connect- 
ing the southern face of the fort with the covered way that leads to 
the sea-coast battery, as also to the road leading over to the Cabanas 
on the brow of the hill. This is a strong affair, arched, and lighted 
by long, narrow apertures. It is about one hundred yards long. 

Morro Castle is not only celebrated for the beauty of its natural 
surroundings, but notorious because of the untold misery hidden 
within its walls. The historic structure, intended as a military 
stronghold, is admirably situated on a high elevation at the entrance 
to the harbor of Havana, and, as already stated, from that location an 
excellent view is obtainable of the land and water for many miles 
around. Viewed from a military point of observation, the castle, 
even with its natural advantages, is no longer a stronghold. 



HORRORS OF MORRO CASTLE. i47 

A bombardment by the elements controlled by the devastating 
hand of Father Time has created sad havoc with the architectural 
beauties of the old place, and what was at one time a really powerful 
fortification is nothing more than a crumbling mass of masonry. 
Cubans say that a sad tale of horror and misery can be told about 
the place for every one of the building stones used in the construc- 
tion of the castle, and they now regard it as simply a shell where 
human suffering is carefully concealed from the light of civilization. 

A House of Horrors. 

While in Cuba an American correspondent viewed the castle from 
various points of observation. Fortunately for himself he did not 
view it from the inside, however, although several other American 
newspaper correspondents have been detained there under exasperat- 
ing conditions. 

" The castle is a grand old place from a distant point of view," 
writes the journalist. " In nearly every other consideration it is a 
House >f Horrors. A mere mention of the name Morro Castle 
thrills the heart of the average Cuban with an ill-feeling, and they 
have a greater dread of confinement there than they have of the yel> 
low fever. 

" Political prisoners and suspects are taken there under a strong 
guard of armed men. They are taken there in boats about 6 o'clock 
in the morning, the soldiers having bayonets drawn ready for instant 
use. While on the way to the castle it would be almost certain 
death for a prisoner to show the least sign of insubordination, for the 
guards are authorized to deal summarily with their prisoners when- 
ever occasion requires, and no hesitation occurs in taking full and 
instant advantage of that feature. 

j " Mr. Michaelson, the correspondent of a New York newspaper, 
and his interpreter were confined there as suspects. It required ex- 
ertions of a most vigorous character for other Americans to discover 
the fact that Mr. Michaelson was really confined there. Murat Hal- 
stead and other Americans interviewed General Weyler, and finally 
gained from the Spanish commander a blunt admission that the New 



148 HORRORS OF MORRO CASTLE. 

York writer was in the castle. The treatment Mr. Michaelson 
received was almost brutal in its nature. 

" He was compelled to sleep on the bare floor, and the interior of 
the whole castle is like a dungeon. Stimulants forwarded to the 
castle by his friends were never delivered to the prisoner. A ham- 
mock was not permitted to reach him until the day before he was 
liberated, and meals purchased at a hotel for his benefit were detained 
on the outside. His food was thrown to him as it might be given to 
a dog. Finally, a prison attendant who saw that he was a gentleman, 
gave him food on a tin plate, and then said in Spanish, ' I would 
like to have a little tip, if you don't mind, sir.' 

Slow Death in Prison Vaults. 

" While in the cell, the correspondent saw a rat of tremendous size. 
It was a black rat with a long gray beard, and approached Michael- 
son, he said, as if bent on opening hostilities. Michaelson took off 
his boot and hurled it at the animal, the missile striking the cell door 
with a loud noise. The rat was frightened away, and prison officials 
were attracted to the cell. They rebuked the prisoner for a breach 
of prison discipline, the noise not being permissible. 

" The prison is a damp, unhealthy place, where no regard is paid 
to sanitary arrangements or conditions. A short confinement within 
its dreary walls is frequently attended with fatal consequences. The 
climate is such that dreaded fevers are disastrous in their results, the 
ravages of yellow fever being terrible in extent. 

" The hospitals in and around Havana are so crowded with 
patients that frequently the military doctors send sufferers to hotels 
while the unfortunates are suffering from some dreaded disease. The 
announcement is made that the complaint is rheumatism or some 
other disease not of an infectious or contagious character, so that 
this method frequently results in many well persons being subjected 
needlessly to great dangers of contamination." 

In April two hundred and twelve men were confined in two cells 
of Morro Castle. They were political prisoners, or " suspects," await- 
ing trial. Some had been there a week, some a month, some a year. 



HORRORS OF MORRO CASTLE. 149 

Two were American citizens ; one a British subject. There was a 
boy of fourteen years, born in Spain, and not long enough in Cuba 
to dream of rebelling against the government. 

There were men bowed in years, young men, merchants, profes- 
sional men, clerks and farm laborers, all gathered in and thrown 
together, with little or no evidence of having aided or taken part in 
the insurrection. In the Cabanas fortress, close by, and in prisons 
all over the Island, were other unfortunates. Two thousand, three 
thousand, perhaps four thousand, altogether, for no man may know 
how many people Spain had behind the bars at this time in Cuba. 

Like Subterranean Tunnels. 

But of the 212 in the Morro. Each cell is about 20 feet wide and 
nearly 100 feet deep. They are of stone, arched above, and are more 
like subterranean tunnels than rooms for human beings. The only 
openings are at the ends. They are in the lower part of a building, 
within the outer walls, and having the appearance of being intended 
for storing supplies. They are damp and filthy, and are said to be 
infested with vermin. Nothing in the shape of chairs, benches or 
beds is provided. There are, however, hooks for fifty hammocks L' 
each room. Friends of the prisoners supplied the hammocks ; but, 
as there were 108 men in one room, and 104 in the other, more than 
half the number were compelled to sleep on the stone floor. 

Water was furnished twice a day in separate cans, which once 
contained kerosene oil. Regular army rations were served. The 
sanitary arrangements were vile. Many men were taken from thes' 
cells to the hospitals before the slow-moving authorities saw fit to 
try their cases, or admit that they had no case. 

One of the prisoners was Lopez Colona, who left Matanzas in tht 
early days of the rebellion. Like Juan Gualberto Gomez, who died 
in Ceuta prison, Colona presented himself when Captain-General 
Calleja issued his proclamation granting amnesty to all insurgents 
who surrendered. He had been in prison more than a year, had 
neither been deported nor given a trial, and stood a good chance of 
dying in prison. 



150 HORRORS OF MORRO CASTLE. 

Another prisoner was Manuel Francisco Aguerro. He affirmed 
he was an American citizen, and though he was arrested in July, 
1895, the American Consul said he had never before heard of the 
case. Aguerro was a general agent or manager of a traveling circus. 
He said he had visited the United States yearly to obtain features 
for his circus, and lived there at one time five years, when he took 
out citizenship papers. He had taken no part in the war, and way 
arrested in Guara, Havana province, July 7th, 1895. 

All of the 212 in Morro Castle were white. One already men- 
tioned was a smooth-cheeked Spanish lad of fourteen, who was clerk 
in a store in a small town in the interior of Havana province. He 
lost his position, and was walking along the highway to Havana 
when arrested, charged with being a rebel. 

Aside from those named, the political prisoners are Cubans almost 
without exception. They are not in any sense prisoners of war. 
They are peaceable citizens dragged out of their homes, away from 
families dependent upon them for support, and sent to the Morro. 



CHAPTER XIV. 
Stirring Incidents of the Conflict. 

IT is evident that there was no opportunity for General Weyler tr, 
fight a pitched battle with the entire insurgent army. The 
reason is plain. The insurgents were scattered and were not 
massed in large numbers. They were, indeed, separated into two 
divisions, the one under General Gomez and the other under General 
Antonio Maceo, but they were not to be found at nny one point in 
very formidable numbers. 

The insurgent generals exhibited great strategy in avoiding a 
pitched battle against overwhelming numbers. They knew every inch 
of Cuba. They could advance and retreat with the swiftness of the 
wind. They were well acquainted with all the natural strongholds, 
and could disappear whenever there was a certainty of being defeated 
or captured if they risked battle. Thus the war progressed and was 
not without incidents of the most stirring description. 

On March 13th, Gomez and Maceo, who were in the province of 
Matanzas, separated, Gomez remaining in the vicinity of Jovellanos, 
while Maceo moved west. The Government troops directed atten- 
tion to Maceo, who showed a tendency to retreat toward Havana. 
The columns commanded by Generals Bernal and Prats, Colonels 
Vicuna and Inclan, Tort and Molina and the Almanza battalion 
•formed a combination to encircle Maceo and prevent his entrance to 
Havana province. The official announcement was made at the 
Palace of the combination of the seven columns. The result was 
anxiously awaited. 

Later the Government announced that Maceo declined an engage- 
ment and entered Havana province. From other sources it was 
learned that Maceo discovered the combination, and with Lacret and 
Bandera's forces, numbering over ten thousand, fell upon the 

151 



152 STIRRING INCIDENTS OF THE CONFLICT. 

Almanza battalion, which happened to be a raw one recently arrived 
from Spain, broke it to pieces near Los Palos, rode over the remains 
and crossed the Havana line, leaving the Government combination in 
the rear. Maceo passed south of Guines and struck the railroad 
north of Batanao, removed the track and telegraph wires from the 
trocha, and caused consternation in the block-houses along the strong 
line. In the vicinity of Tozo Redondo he burned two bridges, and 
was reported going in the direction of Pinar del Rio line. 

General Weyler was very angry over the failure of the columns to 
prevent Maceo's return, especially since he had just proclaimed the 
province free of insurgents. The Government troops were rushed 
west in pursuit of Maceo, and the strong line was again strengthened, 
There was no improvement in the situation in the other provinces, 
The Spanish held only three towns in the Western province — Pinar 
del Rio, Candelaria and Artemisa. 

In Matanzas many thousand acres of cane were burned, railroads 
destroyed and towns attacked. The rebels were more numerous than 
ever. The same was true of Santa Clara and Santiago provinces, 
General Weyler's recent decrees were being rigidly enforced, causing 
panic in many sections. 

The Spaniards Killing One Another. 

An untoward military accident occurred, growing out of a mis- 
understanding of the reply to a challenge, resulting in the killing ol 
twelve soldiers and the wounding of a number of others. A small 
band of insurgents had set fire to the cane and buildings on a sugar 
estate near Marianao, Province of Havana. The smoke attracted the 
attention of two columns of Spanish troops who were advancing m 
search of the rebels. The column which first arrived on the estate 
entrenched Lhemselves, as a precaution against any sudden attack 
from the insurgents, who were supposed to be near. 

The second column, consisting of the San Quintin battalion, 
arrived on the scene after dark. As they approached the entrench- 
ments of the first column they were hailed by the usual "Alerta" 
from a picket, and responded by calling out the name of their battal 



STIRRING INCIDENTS OF THE CONFLICT. L53 

Ion — San Quintin. The picket, confused by the sudden appearance 
of the column, misunderstood the reply, taking it, from the similarity 
of sound, to be Quintin Bandera, the name of one of the rebel 
leaders. He at once concluded that the insurgents were moving tc 
attack the column to which he belonged, and, without further parley, 
discharged his piece and fell back to the entrenchments, where the 
report of his rifle had caused all the troops to seize their arms and 
prepare to repel an attack. 

The second column had in the meantime continued to advance, 
supposing that they had come upon the rebels for whom they were 
looking. They had not gone far before the first column poured a 
volley into their ranks. The second column returned the fire, and 
then in response to an order fixed their bayonets and rushed forward 
to take the entrenchments by storm. As they went over the en- 
trenchments the first column poured another volley into them, antf 
then when the troops came into close quarters it was discovered frorc. 
the uniforms and flags that a fatal blunder had been made. 

It was reported that the losses on both sides in killed and wounded 
were over thirty, but there was a strong suspicion that they were 
much larger. 

Defending Havana. 

"Within three days," says a journalist, " I have made two journeys 
out into the surrounding country, and have seen the hurried prepara- 
tions for the defense of the city which are going ca day and night. 
I went clear across the Island to the south coast along the trocha, 
and the work is astonishing. Miles of trenches are being dug ; on 
every high piece of ground commanding a quarter of mile radius has 
been erected a stone fort with a boiler-iron roof and watch-tower, 
and outside the limits of the city not a building commanding a street 
or village, or a hacienda in the country remains which has not been 
barricaded and garrisoned. The numerous little forts are each capa- 
ble of holding a hundred or a hundred and fifty men and a machine 
gun has been sent out to half a dozen of them which are nearest the 
city. 



154 STIRRING INCIDENTS OF THE CONFLICT. 

" It all looks very much like the hasty defense of a city about to 
be attacked, and the nature of the fortifications, outside the forts 
described, bears out this impression. The buildings utilized are 
topped along the four sides of the roof with a rampart of oil-barrels 
filled with sand, and when the supply of barrels has failed ordinary 
sugar sacks have been used in the same way. At Guanabacoa, east 
of the city in the direction of Matanzas, sardine boxes, flour barrels, 
empty cracker cases, old lumber and every sort of junk have been 
piled up in lines and filled with gravel. 

The following letter, addressed to the American press, was received 
at Tampa, Fla., March 14th: 

Outrages by a Despot. 

" If the Government that unhappily rules the destinies of this 
unfortunate country should be true to the most rudimentary princi- 
ples of justice and morality, Colonel Jull, who has been recently 
appointed Military Governor of Matanzas province, should be in the 
galleys among criminals. It is but a short time since he was relieved 
by General Martinez Campos of the military command at Cienfuegos, 
as he had not once engaged any of the insurgent forces, but vented 
all his ferocious instincts against innocent and inoffensive peasants. 

" In Yaguaramas, a small town near Cienfuegos, he arrested as 
suspects and spies Mr. Antonio Morejon, an honest and hard-working 
man, and Mr. Ygnacio Chapi, who is well advanced in years and 
almost blind. Not being able to prove the charge against them, as 
they were innocent, he ordered Major Moreno, of the Barcelona 
battalion, doing garrison duty at Yaguaramas, to kill them with the 
machete and have them buried immediately. Major Moreno answered 
that he was a gentleman, who had come to fight for the integrity of 
his country, and not to commit murder. This displeased the colonel 
sorely, but, unfortunately, a volunteer sergeant, with six others, were 
willing to execute the order of the colonel, and Morejon and Chapi 
were murdered without pity. 

" The order of Jull was executed in the most cruel manner. It 
horrifies to even think of it. Mr. Chapi, who knew the ways o' 



STIRRixnG INCIDENTS OF THE CONFLICT. 155 

Colonel Jull, on being awakened at 3 o'clock in the morning, and 
notified by the volunteer of the guard that he and Morejon had to 
go out, suspected what was to come, and told his companion to cry 
out for help as soon as they would be taken out of the fort. They 
did so, but those who were to execute the order of Jull were neither 
moved nor weakened in their purpose. 

A Ghastly Spectacle. 

" On the contrary, at the first screams of Chapi and Morejon they 
threw a lasso over their heads, and pulled at it by the ends. In a 
few moments they fell to the ground, choked to death. They were 
dragged on the earth without pity to the place where they were buried. 
All this bloody scene was witnessed by Jull from a short distance. 
Providence has not willed that so much iniquity should remain hid- 
den forever. In the hurry the grave where these two innocent men 
were buried was not dug deep enough, and part of the rope with 
which they were choked remained outside. A neighbor looking for 
a lost cow saw the rope, took hold of it, and, on pulling, disinterred 
the head of one of the victims. He was terror-stricken, and imme- 
diately gave notice to the Guardia Civil and the Judge. These 
authorities soon found out that the men had been killed by order of 
Colonel Jull, and therefore proceedings were suspended. 

" The neighbors and all civil and military authorities know every- 
thing that has been related here, but such is the state of affairs on 
this Island that General Weyler has had no objection to appointing 
this monster, Colonel Jull, Military Governor of Matanzas. Such 
deeds as enumerated are common. 

" The people of the town of Matanzas, with Jull as Governor, and 
Arolas at the head of a column, wlii suffer the consequences of theii 
pernicious and bloody instincts. 

" That the readers may kn&v^ in part who General Arolas is, I will 
relate what has happened in the Mercedes estate, near Colon. It 
having come to his knowledge that a small body of rebels was 
encamped on the sugar Estate Mercedes, of Mr. Carrillo, General 
Arolas went to engage them, but the rebels, who were few in nuai* 



!5G STIRRING INCIDENTS OF THE CONFLICT. 

ber, retreated. Much vexed at not being able to discharge one shoV 
at them, he made prisoners of three workmen who were out in the 
field herding the animals of the estate, and without any formality of 
trial shot them. When the bodies were taken to the Central they 
were recognized, and to cover his responsibility somewhat General 
Arolas said that when he challenged them they ran off, and at the 
first discharge of musketry they fell dead. 

* It seems impossible that being so near the United States, so nea: 
that country so free, cultured and generous, innocent peasants can be 
butchered with impunity. Not even in Armenia happens what is 
being witnessed in Cuba. The history of the Spanish dominion in 
this unfortunate Island is a history of crimes." 

Appalling Devastation. 

Some idea of the devastation wrought by the war in Cuba may be 
gathered from the fact that fifty-nine towns were destroyed in the four 
western provinces. Most of these towns were burned by the \nsurgents 
for resisting attacks, or because they were being used as depots of 
supplies for government troops. In some cases, like that of Cabanas, 
the Spanish troops demolished the town to prevent the insurgents 
from occupying it. Very little of the destruction was done wantonly 
by either side. 

When the insurgents, led by Maceo, entered Pinar del Rio every 
town in the province except the capital city welcomed him with open 
arms, and no property was injured. Later the Government troops 
entered the province, and, moving in strong columns, dislodged the 
insurgents from town after town, establishing their own garrisons there. 
Thereupon the inhabitants burned their own town, and nearly the 
entire province was laid in ashes. Spanish troops occupied the city 
of Pinar del Rio, the towns of Candelaria, Artemisa and the port of 
Colima. All the rest of the province was in the hands of the enemy 
A Spanish force was sent to establish a base of supplies at Guane, 
Upon the approach of the column the residents burned their town. 

In the general devastation of Pinar del Rio tobacco warehouses 
were burned, and the indications were that this crop would not be 



STIRRING INCIDENTS OF THE CONFLICT. 157 

permitted to reach the coast. Banana and pineapple crops were also 
interfered with. Shipments from the interior to the sea-coast towns 
were so completely blocked that at Guines, in this province, cows 
were offered for sale at $4 each, pigs $i, turkeys 40 cents, and eggs 
and milk had no price. In Havana these things were worth four 
times the customary price, and codfish imported in large quantities 
for consumption in the interior was offered for one and one-half cents 
per pound, but a little more than the duty alone. Thousands of 
people were destitute, and had it not been for tropical fruits and 
the tropical climate starvation would have been theirs. 

The following report from Defuniak Springs, Fla., under date of 
March 18th, shows that the friends of Cuba were active in supplying 
arms and ammunition : 

Arrival of Munitions of War. 

" The expedition of General Enrique Collazo, which sailed from 
Tampa about two weeks ago ? was met at an appointed location in 
the Gulf by a steamer whose name is given as 'Jose Marti,' having 
aboard General Collazo, Major Charles Hernandez, and Miguel Duque 
de Estrada, a brother-in-law of Coilazo. The main body consisted of 
ninety-eight able-bodied men, most of whom are prominent in society 
in Havana. The steamer will immediately sail for Cuba, intending to 
land on the northern coast, near Cardenas. The following is a list of 
the munitions of war taken : 

" Five hundred Winchester rifles, 500 Remington rifles, 500 ma- 
chetes, two rapid-firing field-pieces, and a large number of cartridges, 
caps and considerable dynamite. Sufficient accoutrements and 
equipments were taken for five hundred men. 

"The Spanish Consul at Tampa was fully aware of the move, but 
on account of it being made on Sunday he could obtain no warrant 
to arrest the members of the expedition, the United States Marshal 
refusing to act without it." 

The strength of the insurgent army at this time was close to 
43,000 men. Cubans themselves estimated the number of men in the 
field as high as 60,000; but even if unarmed camp-followers, men in 



158 STIRRING INCIDENTS OF THE CONFLICT. 

charge of provision trains, hospitals and camps were counted, it is 
doubtful if that number could have been found actually in service. 
There were thousands of Cubans who would willingly have cast their 
lot with the patriot army, but lack of arms and ammunition prevented. 
The insurgent forces operated, as a rule, in zones or districts, and 
were organized on military lines. The columns of Gomez, Maceo, 
Lacret and Banderas were, however, limited to no one province, but 
passed from one to another, under direct orders of Gomez. 

A Hand-to-Hand Encounter. 

News was received at Havana of an important battle which was 
fought in the vicinity of Candelaria, in the Province of Pinar del Rio. 
The Government troops were unable to drive the insurgents back, 
and retired from their position with considerable loss. The Spanish 
forces were commanded by General Linares and Colonels Inclan and 
Hernandez, and the insurgents by Maceo and Banderas. The fighting 
was begun on a line parallel with the roadway. The Spanish forces 
deployed, the Tarifa battalion, a section of the Victoria cavalry and a 
detachment of artillery forming the vanguard and opening fire upop 
the enemy. 

The insurgents returned this fire, and at the same time rndoe a.< 
attack upon the rear-guard of the Spaniards, completely enrircling 
their column. Having entirely surrounded the Government troops > 
the insurgents advanced upon the artillerymen with machetes. The 
latter made a vigorous resistance, using muskets and grenades with 
such effect as to check for a time the enemy's advance ; but, with 
reinforcements, a second charge was made by the insurgents and a 
hand-to-hand engagement ensued. The battle terminated with a 
bayonet charge. After a hot fight, lasting two hours, the Spaniards 
were defeated, losing many killed and wounded. It was the intention 
of the enemy to prevent Colonel Inclan from proceeding to C«n- 
delaria. 

The official report of the fight said the insurgents suffered a tre- 
mendous loss. The Spaniards lost two captains and five privates 
killed, and one lieutenant, four sergeants and fifty foui soldiers 



STIRRING INCIDENTS OF THE CONFLICT. 150 

wounded. General Linares arrived at Candelaria an hour alter the 
conclusion of the engagement, when he reported his share in the 
battle. 

A dispatch from Havana to the Impartial at Madrid said: " Captain- 
General Weyler feels much hindered by the excessive degree of 
prudence he is compelled to observe during the discussion in the 
United States Congress of the question of the belligerency of the 
Cuban insurgents, which, moreover, prejudices the course of the 
war." 

Mr. Armstrong, Secretary of the United States Legation at 
Madrid, said : "General Weyler is certainly in a very embarrassing 
position. He is trying to quell an insurrection in a province in 
which 90 per cent, of the population are opposed to him, and as soon 
as he starts a friendly nation practically tells him that, while he may 
carry on the war, he must not shoot any one." 

A detachment of Spanish troops near Cardenas, province of 
Matanzas, captured 151 cases of ammunition, nine cases of carbines, 
fourteen medical chests, twenty boxes of accoutrements and two 
boxes of cartridge caps. These supplies, evidently intended for the 
insurgents, were found in three boats, which apparently belonged to 
some filibustering steamer off" the coast. 

Senor Dupuy de Lome, Spanish Minister at Washington, re- 
ceived the following cablegram on March 20: 

" Havana, March 20. — The detachment of Veradero, near Carde- 
nas, captured 150 boxes of ammunition for Remington and Winchester 
rifles, nine boxes of cavalry rifles, fourteen tin boxes of medicines, 
twenty knapsacks covered with oil-cloth, two boxes of explosives and 
three boats. (Signed) Weyler." 

The Spanish Minister was of the opinion that the war material 
mentioned was that of the Colazzo expedition, which was shipped 
from Cedar Key in the schooner " J. S. Mallory," captured by the 
United States revenue cutters, released by the authorities at Tampa, 
and afterwards transshipped somewhere near the southern coast of 
Florida to the steamer " Three Friends." 

With the arrival at Philadelphia of the schooner v J. Manchester 



160 STIRRING INCIDENTS OF THE CONFLICT. 

Haynes" from Havana, came an interesting account of the state oi 
affairs at the Cuban capital. For two months the schooner lay at 
Havana, and during all that time the insurgents tantalized the Span- 
ish soldiers, who, notwithstanding the vigorous policy that was sup- 
posed to have been adopted, seemed to be unable to cope with the 
tactics employed by the patriots. 

Flames from Burning Plantations. 

Ninety thousand soldiers were quartered at Havana. During thi. 
time the " Haynes " was at that port the insurgent force, numbering 
about 6000, were at no time farther away from the capital than fifteen 
miles. The Spanish soldiers had possession of the city, but just 
outside havoc was being wrought by the insurgents. Flames from 
burning plantations could be seen at all times, and frequently a daring 
patriot would go almost into the capital and destroy property. 

The Western Railroad, which runs from Havana, was a great 
sufferer. No sooner were the rails relaid than the insurgents tore 
them up again. An engineer, more daring than the rest, was warned 
by the insurgents not to venture out from the town, but, risking it, 
he was captured, and when the " Haynes" left Havana nothing further 
had been heard concerning him. The President of this railroad also 
lost cattle, which were in the western part of the city. The insur- 
gents some weeks before raided that section and destroyed a large 
number of cows, and no milk could be had for several days. 

Insurgent spies were said to enter Havana frequently to find out 
whatever news it was possible to learn, especially the plans of the 
Spanish. They then returned to the country, and the information 
thus obtained enabled the officers to direct their forces in a manner 
that baffled the Government troops. 

The " Haynes " was at Havana when General Weyler arrived. 
War was to be pushed to a speedy end, it was declared, but there 
was no sign of an early termination of hostilities. When the United 
States Senate passed the resolutions favoring the recognition of the 
insurgents as belligerents, there was bitter feeling expressed by the 
Spaniards against this country. " Why," i,aid one, " I could eat ten 



STIRRING INCIDENTS OF THE CONFLICT. i6i 

of those Americans myself!" Somebody remarked that it would be 
better for his country if he ate ten of the insurgents. 

The insurgents seemed never to rest, but it appeared otherwise 
with the Spaniards. A small band of the insurgents would approach 
very close to the capita), but while the Government troops were pur- 
suing them the time for eating would come. This settled it. The 
soldiers stopped to eat. After they had filled their stomachs with 
things good to eat and drink, they enjoyed their cigarettes. By this 
time the insurgents on their ponies were far away. This is quoted to 
illustrate the activity s>f one and the apathy of the other of the con- 
tending forces. 

Capture of a Band of Insurgents. 

Some days before the " Haynes " sailed for Philadelphia several 
bands of insurgents were captured. One band, numbering seventeen, 
headed by a negro chief, was marched through the town in the charge 
of a large regiment of soldiers. The soldiers with great glee kepi 
swinging their swords near the chief's head. The entire band was 
taken to Morro Castle, where, it was believed, the chief would be 
shot. A Spanish commandant, who had been found giving provi- 
sions to insurgents, was executed in Morro Castle. An American 
sailor, who had been three years in Morro Castle, was released 
seveial weeks before. He had been put there for knocking down a 
policeman. The sailor was lounging around the docks when the 
" Haynes " departed. 

A day or so before the schooner sailed from Havana an expedition 
was said to have been landed at Cabanas, a town to the westward of 
the capital. The gunboats did not seem to be able to prevent the 
landing of filibusters, who found it comparatively easy to get ashore 
on the coast from Santa Cruz to Havana. It was stated that property- 
owners and merchants were openly professing sympathy with the 
Spaniards, fearing that all that belonged to them would be confiscated 
if they appeared to favor the other side, but when the turning-point 
came, it was believed all would actively support the insurgents. 

Owing to the destruction of the plantations very little new sugar 
11 



162 STIRRING INCIDENTS OF THE CONFLICT. 

was coming into Havana from the country districts. There was a lot 
of old sugar in the warehouses, but this the people did not care to 
send out because no new material was coming in. 

Reference has been made to the expedition of the steamer " Three 
Friends," of Jacksonville, Florida. We here give the complete story 
of the trip. The steamer, in command of Captain Napoleon B. 
Broward, arrived at Jacksonville on March i8th, having succeeded in 
landing in Cuba General Enrique Collazo, Major Charles Hernandez, 
and Duke Estrada, besides fifty-four men taken off the schooner 
" Ardell," from Tampa, and the entire cargo of arms and ammunition 
of the schooner " Mallory," from Cedar Key. It was by long odds 
the most important expedition that has set out from this country, and 
the Cubans at Jacksonville, when they learned that the " Three 
Friends " had safely fulfilled her mission, shouted " Viva Cuba 1 " 
until they were hoarse. 

Large Cargo of Arms. 

They declared that it would change the character of the whole 
war, as the unarmed men would now be armed and those without 
ammunition would be supplied, and that Maceo, who had before been 
wary and cautious, would be more aggressive than he had ever been 
before. The cargo of arms landed by the " Three Friends " and 
the "Mallory" was as follows: 750,000 rounds of cartridges; 1,200 
rifles ; 2,100 machetes; 400 revolvers, besides stores, reloading tools, 
etc. 

The " Three Friends " met the " Mallory " at Alligator Key. The 
" Ardell " had just finished transferring the men to her. While they 
were rendezvoused there behind the pines in a deep coral-walled 
creek three big Spanish men-of-war steamed slowly by, but they did 
not discover that there was anything suspicious-looking in shore, 
although with a glass men could be seen in their look-outs scanning 
the horizon, as well as searching the shore. Sunday, about noon, no 
vessels being in sight, the " Three Friends " took in tow the " Mal- 
lory " and steamed southward under a good head 01 steat.'i. 

The " Three Friends " is a powerful tug, and by Monday night 



STIRRING INCIDENTS OF THE CONFLICT. 163 

was close enough to the Cuban shore to hear the breakers. Several 
ship lights to the west were seen, one of which was evidently a 
Spanish man of- war, for she had a search light at her bow, and was 
sweeping the waves with it, but the " Three Friends " was a long 
way off and had no light, and so was out of the neighborhood of the 
Spaniard. 

Shadowed by Detectives. 

At ten o'clock that night, by the aid of a naphtha launch and two 
big surf-boats, which had been taken out of Jacksonville, the " Three 
Friends " landed the men and ammunition from her hold, and from 
that of the " Mallory." It took four and a half hours to complete 
the job. There were hundreds of men on shore to assist, and they 
did it silently, appreciating the peril of the undertaking. 

The Cubans on shore recognized General Collazo immediately, and 
no words can describe their joy upon seeing him. He is a veteran 
of Cuban wars, and is one whom Spain fears. In fact, it is known 
that during his sojourn in Florida he was shadowed by detectives, 
who had been instructed to spare no expense to keep Collazo fiom 
reaching Cuba. When it was whispered that Collazo was really 
among them, they seemed not to believe their ears, but came forward 
and looked, and, seeing that there was really no mistake, threw up 
their arms and wept. Major Charles PL nandez and Duke Estrada 
were also enthusiastically welcomed. 

It was reported that night that Maceo had rcceiced the arms of the 
first expedition that set forth three days before the "Three Friends" 
landed. They were not from the " Commodore," for they reported 
that they were now on the lookout for that vessel. They said, too, 
that at the end of the week four expeditions were afloat. Two, in- 
cluding the " Three Friends," had landed, and two more were on the 
way. Tuesday morning, as the " Three Friends " was returning, she 
sighted a steamer that answered to the description of the " Commo- 
dore." She was headed southward, and pushing along apparently 
at the rate of fifteen knots an hour. This vessel has an engine capa- 
ble of driving a ship twice her size, and has a speed of seventeen 
knots an hour. 



164 STIRRING INCIDENTS OF THE CONFLICT. 

On Wednesday, March 3, General Collazo, Major Hernandez and 
Duke Estrada left Tampa, and reached Jacksonville the nexi day. 
They remained secreted at the house of a Cuban sympathizer until 
the 1 2th, General Collazo knowing that detectives had been on his 
trail for weeks. They intended to leave on the night of March 5th, 
but their departure was delayed, on account of the capture of the 
" Mallory," until the 12th. After release, the "Mallory " sailed with 
a part of the arms seized at Cedar Keys six months before, some on 
an island, some in a house, and some that had been jettisoned and 
had been released through the efforts of H. S. Rubens, general 
counsel of the Cubans. The schooner " Ardell " left Tampa the 
same night with fifty-four men and Brigadier-General Vasquez, a 
brother-in-law of General Collazo. 

Escape of the Vessel. 

Five tons of the " Mallory's" arms and ammunition ,,ere taken from 
her at Tampa and shipped to Jacksonville, in a sealed car, with instruc- 
tions not to open until called for. When the car arrived in Jackson- 
ville, one of the clerks of the railroad, not knowing of the orders, 
opened the car and unloaded it in the freight depot of the Florida 
Central & Peninsular Railroad, and this discovery led to all sorts of 
rumors. It was known that the boxes contained arms, as they were 
heavy, and they were labelled " Colt's Fire Arms Company." They 
were promptly removed to the warehouse of the President of the 
Yriends of Cuba Club of Jacksonville. 

The arms remained in this warehouse until the night of the 12th 
instant. Meanwhile the " Mallory " sailed from Tampa with the re^ 
mainder of the cargo to Alligator Key, the appointed rendezvous. 
Alligator Key is about 100 miles south of Biscayne Bay. It is a 
part of the Florida reef, and, being well wooded, is an excellent place 
for the purpose. There the " Mallory " was joined by the "Ardell," 
where the two waited for the " Three Friends." 

This vessel left the dock of the Alabama Coal Company in Jackson- 
ville at 8 o'clock on the night of Thursday, the 12th inst, and pro- 
ceeded to the dock, where she loaded with arms, ammunition and 



STIRRING INCIDENTS OF THE CONFLICT. 165 

dynamite. At 10 o'clock she sailed for the mouth of the river, but 
stopped at Bucki's on the way and took aboard General Collazo and 
his party, and A. W. Barra, who had driven out in carriages from the 
place where they were secreted. At this point a large naphtha launch 
was taken on, as well as two large iron surf-boats, to be used in 
landing the arms, etc. 

The steamer proceeded out to the bar that night, and at daylight 
of Friday, the 13th, she proceeded down the coast. She arrived at 
Alligator Key Sunday morning, and then took in tow the " Mallory." 



CHAPTER XV. 
Pathetic Stories of the War. 

ON the 4th of March, Dr. Delgado, an American citizen residing 
in Cuba, was wounded by brutal Spanish soldiers. There was 
a ghastly gash made by a machete across the side of his 
head, extending downward to the throat. It was sewed up by the 
doctors. The bullet-hole through his side was the most painful. 

He had lived in New York, and had begun practicing medicine 
there as assistant to Dr. Alexander Mott. He came to Cuba in 1876 
tc claim property which belonged to him by inheritance. He 
grieved a great deal over the young men who were killed on the day 
of the massacre, when he escaped so miraculously to tell this story. 

A newspaper correspondent heard the story of the butchery from 
Delgado's old father, who speaks good English. The old man was 
still suffering from the effects of the weeks which he spent in the 
damp cane fields with his wounded boy. Frequently, as he told the 
awful story, his face was convulsed with suffering, and tears flowed 
from his eyes. In his trembling hands he held the blood-stained 
bullet which fell from his side when they removed his garments. He 
said that he would bring it himself to Mr. Cleveland and would ask 
the President if there was no protection for Americans in Cuba. 

w< Our plantation," he said, " is called Dolores, the old name being 
Morales. It was about half-past one on the 4th day of March when 
a regiment of rebels, about 400 or 500 men, invaded the place. 
They told us that they were Maceo's men, and soon after them came 
Maceo, with twenty-four women, sixteen whites and eight mulattoes. 
I understood that these women were the wives of the officers. 

" Maceo shook hands politely and asked if I would allow them to 
take breakfast with us. Of course there was nothing to do but to 
say yes, and the men spread themseJ"*s over about seventy acres of 
166 



PATHETIC STORIES OF THE WAR. 16) 

the plantation, the officers and the ladies coming into the house. 
They had provisions with them, but desired to cook and serve them, 
which they did. They sat down at the table, and were soon joking 
and laughing. 

" Suddenly we heard rifle-shots. Hernandez yelled to his wife to 
hand him his machete. Then all went out and found that the firing had 
come from what seemed to be an advance guard of the Spanish troops. 
There was some skirmishing at a distance, and the insurgents rode 
away. They did not wish to fight on the plantation, as they were on 
another mission. 

Bullets Cause Alarm. 

" The Spaniards had fired the cane, thinking there were other 
insurgents hiding in it. Spanish bullets rattled on the tiled roof of 
the house, and farm-hands who were ploughing back of the house got 
frightened and wished to come in. So the doors and windows were 
unbarred, and six men and three women, wives of the farm-hands, 
came in. 

" After a while I opened the window to see how matters stood and 
saw two cavalrymen and a captain, with two soldiers. My son and 
the farm-hands went out toward the burning cane in an attempt to 
save some oxen that were near the cane. When the captain saw 
them he shouted : ' Who are those people ?' 

'' I told him they were our workmen, and he then gave orders to 
clear the house. They rushed their horses right through the house, 
the captain leading them. I took out my American papers and 
showed them to him to prove that I was a peaceful citizen. 

" ' They are the worst documents you can have,' said the captain. 
They answered my son in the same way, and the captain repeated 
the order to clear the house. Then they ordered us to march on as 
prisoners and told the women to stay back. My son asked them to 
let me stay back with the women, and they allowed me to do so. Of 
course, the women were panic-stricken and screaming when they saw 
their husbands taken away. 

" We heard shots and then a second volley. One of the women 



168 PATHETIC STORIES OF THE WAR. 

cried out : ' They have killed my husband !' Her words were true. 
After about three hours I ventured out, and I saw coming toward the 
house the old farm-hand, a man of about 70. He seemed to be hold- 
ing a red handkerchief over his arm, but when I got nearer I saw 
that it was covered with blood. He cried out when he saw me : — 

" ' They have killed them !' 

" ' My son ! My son !' I cried. 

" ' He was the first one that they killed,' he said. 

" I took the man in the house and tried to bind his arm, which had 
been shattered by a bullet. I endeavored to pacify the women, and 
told them that they should go tG the nearest neighbors for help. 
The two white farm-hands, who had been hiding in the cane, then 
came over toward the house, while I was trying to quiet the women. 
They were afraid to move, panic-stricken, and would not go for help. 

" Suddenly a young man dashed up to the house at full gallop. 
He drew his revolver and told the farm-hands to get cots and pil- 
lows and medicine to bring to the missing men in case any of them 
should be still alive. He said he would shoot them if they diso^ 
beyed, and they did as he directed. They made up a litter, and we 
walked on till we found the place where the men lay in a pool of 
blood. 

" I looked into my son's face and cried out: ' My son, my son.' He 
opened his eyes and whispered, ' Father, they have killed us.' " 

The old gentleman broke down in a passion of weeping at these 
recollections of this awful scene. He led me in to the bedside of his 
son, who then told me his story of the butchery. 

" They marched us along," he said, " and I spoke to the General : 
' General, I am an American citizen, and here are my papers from Mr. 
Williams.' 

' They are the worst things you could have,' he said. ' I wish the 
Consul were here himself, so that I could treat him thus,' and he 
struck me three times in the face. Then he sounded the bugle calling 
the volunteers, and ordered us taken to the rear-guard. Of course, 
we knew that this meant death. They tied us in a line with our 
hands pinioned. I knew the sergeant and said to him :— 



PATHETIC STORIES OF THE WAR. 16& 

" ' Is it possible that you are going to kill me ? ' 

" ' How can I help it ? ' he answered. Then the order was given 
and the soldiers rushed upon us with machetes. Their knives cut our 
ropes as we tried to dodge the blows, and the soldiers fired two 
volleys at us. 

" The first shot grazed my head, and I dropped to the ground as 
though dead. The old farm-hand also threw himself to the earth. 
This act saved both our lives. 

" The other four men who tried to fight were killed. At the second 
discharge a bullet pierced my side. When we all lay as though dead 
they came up and turned us over and searched our pockets — mine 
first, of course, as I was better dressed than the other men. One of 
the soldiers noticed that my breast moved and shouted out : ' This 
fellow is not dead yet. Give him another blow,' and he raised his 
machete and gave me a slash across the face and. throat. Then I be- 
came unconscious." 

Secreted in a Cane Field. 

Delgado's father took up the story as his son left off: " The brave 
young man who brought us to the place where my son was, now 
jumped from his horse and gave orders to the men to lift my son on 
the litter, as we found he was the only man still living. We put a 
pillow under his head, and the two farm hands lifted the litter and 
carried it into the cane field. 

" Meanwhile, the women relatives of the dead men came up and 
began to wail and cry. The young man, whom we afterward found 
was an insurgent leader, told them they should be quiet, as their 
lamentations would bring the Spanish troops upon the scene again. 

" Then the litter was carried into the cane field. This young man 
said: 'You must immediately write to the American Consul. I will 
furnish you with a messenger, and you may rest safely in this cane 
field with your son. I will put a guard of 500 men around it so that 
they cannot burn it, as they do when they know people are hiding in 
the cane.' 

" For five days I was in the cane field with my son. It rained upon 



170 PATHETIC /TORIES OF THE WAR. 

us, and then I put the r; ulows over my son's chest, in order to protect 
him. I suffered greatly from rheumatism. Only the young man 
appeared and said that General Maceo had sent a guard to escort me 
back to my home. 

" With my boy we were taken there and guard kept around our 
house. Then the messenger came back from the Consul, and I came 
on to Havana to see General Weyler, who had my son brought here 
to the city." 

On the Sunday after Delgado was borne down the Prado on 2 
covered litter, escorted by a gorgeous Red Cross detachment in 
Spanish uniform. There was so much theatrical display and pomp 
about the procession that it looked very much like a clever ruse to 
impress the newspaper correspondents, who, it was known, were in 
possession of all the details of the butchery. 

No Protection for Americans. 

Here is the story of the three brothers Farrar, all American 
citizens and joint owners of the coffee plantation Estrella, in Havana 
province, near Alquizar. It does not differ greatly from the experi- 
ence of many other owners of estates in the interior, but as these 
men happened to be Americans and had made sworn statements 
protesting against the excesses committed by Spanish troops, and 
demanding damages, the affair became one of official record, and 
cannot be brushed away with a general denial. The papers were 
placed in the hands of Consul-General Williams, and Miguel Farrar, 
one of the brothers, furnished a copy of the statement. It is as 
follows : 

" On Saturday, March 21st, the dwelling-house of the coffee plan 
tation Estrella was the object of wanton attack by the column of 
General Bernat, operating in that region. The said building received 
cannon shots of grape and canister, breaking the door, one window, 
several piazza columns, and greatly endangering the lives of the 
families of my brothers, Don Tasio and Don Luis Farrar, both Amer- 
: can citizens, the wife of the former being enceinte. There were two 
small children in the house. From my information it appears that 



PATHETIC STORIES OF THE WAR. 171 

the troops mentioned had sustained fire with a rebel band in Paz 
plantation, a quarter league from Estrella. 

" The rebels having fled to Pedroso and Buena Esperanza planta- 
tions, the government troops advanced toward Estrella, in quite an 
opposite direction from that taken by the rebels. On arriving at the 
borders of Estrella plantation, the Spanish columns began firing 
cannon at the dwelling-house, and it was immediately invaded by 
soldiers, who ransacked it, carrying off from wardrobes all jewelry 
and men's clothing which they contained, as well as a sum of about 
$60 in money. They also took away everything found in workmen's 
dwellings, arresting at the same time twelve of the occupants, whom 
they conducted to Alquizar as insurgents. It should be observed 
that the cannon were fired solely at the dwelling-house of the owners, 
although there were twenty other buildings on the plantation, and 
the place was entirely clear of insurgents. 

Immediate Indemnity Demanded. 

" In consideration of all the above, and particularly on account of 
the danger to which his relatives were exposed, and also for the 
unjustifiable looting on the part of the regular troops in the service 
of a constituted government, the undersigned does most solemnly 
protest and asks an immediate indemnity for the damage suffered, 
which he values at $5,000, as all work has been stopped on the plan- 
tation and everything abandoned." 

The Spanish official account of what happened on the Estrella plan- 
tation was as follows : " The column of General Bernat found several 
bands of rebels who fortified the houses of the coffee plantation Estrella, 
where they were beaten, and by artillery shots and cavalry charges the 
enemy was dislodged from his position. Twelve prisoners were cap- 
tured, besides arms, ammunition and instruments to destroy railroad 
tracks. It is believed from the trails of blood seen in the place that 
the rebels had many dead and wounded. All the prisoners will be 
summarily court-martialed." 

On March 25th twenty prisoners, taken in the operations around 
Artemisia and Alquizas, arrived in Havana. On being escorted 



172 PATHETIC STORIES OF THE WAR. 

through Obispo street to the palace they were followed by a con- 
stantly increasing mob, who shouted: "Viva Espana," and " Death 
to the rebels." 

The men were kicked, beaten, and one had his head cut open by a 
flying missile. It was enough to make decent blood boil to see the 
poor wretches, with arms pinioned and a mob at their heels shouting 
for their blood. By the time the prisoners reached the Palace the 
mob numbered between 200 and 300. General Ahumada, the secundo 
cabo, or second chief of the government, came out and ordered the 
guards to disperse the mob. 

A Heroine who Fought for Cuba. 

An authentic account is given of a heroine who fell in defense of 
the Cuban cause. This woman was Senorita Matilde Agramonte, 0/ 
Havana, who, after marching and fighting with Maceo's soldiers, fell 
dead at last, riddled with Spanish bullets. 

Matilde was the last representative of one of the most widely 
known of old-stock Cuban families. Her ancestors were among the 
first Spanish settlers of the Island. In every insurrection that ha» 
occurred on the Island men of the Agramonte and Varona families 
have been found in the field. The wealth of the family has been 
counted by millions. 

When uncles and brothers of Senorita Matilde followed General 
Maceo into battle they left Matilde on the ranch, in charge. The 
girl set out on a visit to Ciego de Avila. Upon her return she found 
nothing left but ashes and the bodies of the servants. She decided 
to join the army of General Maceo, and so the first female soldier to 
bear arms against Spain was enlisted. 

The poor girl never saw but one battle. That was at the planta- 
tion of Olayita, in Quemado de Guines, province of Santa Clara. 
The patriots were overwhelmingly outnumbered To protect the 
main body in retreat, Maceo called for volunteers, who should remain 
behind and draw the fire of the Spanish. 

Among those who stepped forward was Matilde. They carried 
out General Maceo's plan, but forfeited their own lives. Matilde 



PATHETIC STORIES OF THE WAR. 173 

stood shoulder to shoulder with the soldiers and fired her rifle. She 
was one of the last to fall. 

The arrest of suspects continued during March at such a rate that 
the prisons were full, and epidemics among the prisoners were feared. 
The Remedios prison was in a terrible sanitary condition, with 200 
prisoners in quarters which were very much overcrowded. 

At Sagua there were 226 prisoners, and there was room for no 
more. The same state of affairs prevailed at many other points. 
The decrees of General Weyler were enforced with great harshness 
against the Cubans supposed to have Cuban sympathies. A state of 
panic, as a result of these decrees and the action of troops, prevailed 
in all portions of the Island occupied by the Spanish. 

Where were the Prisoners? 

The peaceable citizens had no fear of the insurgents, who followed 
more humane methods. It was absolutely impossible for corre- 
spondents to learn the whereabouts of the prisoners of war who were 
reported to be taken in the battles fought. The subordinate Spanish 
officers said that secret orders had been given to take no prisoners. 
The Cubans released all the Spanish soldiers captured. The Span- 
ish gave no quarter. So many plantation employes and managers 
were butchered that the men dared not remain on the plantations, 
and the women were left in charge of them. The men hid in the 
woods at the approach of the Spanish column. 

Here is the proclamation of General March, commanding the 
Third Division of the First Army Corps, issued from headquarters at 
llolguin, Santiago Province: 

"Be it known that the forces operating in the territory of this divi- 
sion have orders to fire, without giving the signal to halt, on any 
person who travels at night on the roads outside the towns and ham- 
lets, and for the purpose of preventing accidents this is hereby pub- 
lished for general knowledge." This illustrates the kind of war 
Spain was giving Cuba. Even the Spanish officers were disgusted at 
the methods used. 

Under date of March 26th, it was reported that another blunder 



174 PATHETIC STORIES OF THE WAR. 

on the part of two Spanish commanders had once more led to fatal 
results. The catastrophe which occurred at El Cano was to a great 
extent due to the darkness of the night, but now news came of columns 
mistaking each other for enemies in broad daylight, and continuing to 
fight until thirty men had been killed and over one hundred wounded. 
With an absence of good taste, and even of common sense, this 
unfortunate affair was made a subject for self-glorification in the 
newspapers of Havana. They pointed exultingly to the proof 
afforded of the extreme valor and discipline of their army, which 
enabled them in so short a time to inflict such heavy damage. With- 
out desiring to detract from the acknowledged courage of the 
Spaniards, it may be stated that this made the fourth time within 
a few months that loyal battalions fired upon their own men, This 
argued, to say the least of it, an absence of coolness and judgment 
the qualities most essential to a good commanding officer. 

His Own Brother Among the Slain. 

The manner of carrying on the campaign against the insurgents 
consisted in strong columns, which were supposed to be continually 
on the advance. Three of these were kept within sound of shot of 
one another, while each leader had orders to attack the enemy any- 
where, regardless of superiority of numbers or position, and to rely 
upon the support of the nearest troops. Inexperienced generals and 
colonels were not capable of bringing this to a successful issue. 

On the very first alarm they commenced an engagement either at 
long range or without proper investigation, to find subsequently to 
their dismay that they had actually been forwarding the cause of 
Cuban independence. Some sad stories were told of the scenes that 
followed upon the battle at Santa Rosa. One soldier, while engaged 
in succoring the wounded of the opposing column, discovered his 
own brother among the slain. 

But in a fatal civil war such episodes are necessarily of frequent 
occurrence. A colonel of the Guardia Civil, stationed at Cienfuegos, 
had two sons who, notwithstanding the fact of their being Spaniards, 
were strongly imbued with Cuban sympathy. They joined the army 



PATHETIC STORIES OF THE WAR. 175 

of Gomez, and in the first action in which they took part one of 
them was killed by the regiment commanded by his father. One 
might hear over and over again of similar political differences in 
families throughout the Island. 

A merchant of large fortune in Havana sent his eldest boys to the 
United States to keep them out of harm's way. Within three weeks 
they had returned with an expedition, and had been initiated among 
the insurgents. One still remained, Benjamin ; but as he was only 
thirteen years of age, no apprehensions were entertained on his 
account. He was missing, however, one morning, and the anxious 
Spanish father hurried forthwith to General Weyler to report the cir- 
cumstances and his fears that his son had taken to the woods. Mes- 
sages were immediately dispatched in all directions, with the result 
that the juvenile warrior was captured asleep by the roadside, twenty 
miles from the capital, covered with dust and completely worn out by 
his long tramp. 

A Singular Incident. 

From these dreary records of battle and spoliation it is a relief to 
turn to an incident which took place at Bolondron, in Matanzas, 
though it can hardly be regarded as either admirable or edifying. 
It appears that sparrows in Cuba are looked upon as loyal subjects, 
and that good Spaniards have a respect for them which we are far 
from sharing in the United States. Now, there is a native bird 
called a pitirri, a very desperate character, who, from his absolute 
contempt for European prejudices, may almost be considered as an 
insurgent. 

On the 19th of March, it is well to be accurate, an ill-conditioned 
pitirri got into an argument with a select flock of sparrows, and some 
very unparliamentary language was exchanged. In the investigation 
into the matter it has not been fully decided as to what was the origin 
of the discussion ; but it is supposed to have had reference either to 
the elections or the question of belligerency. Whatever it was, how- 
ever, the sparrows called upon the pitirri to retract or come on. 

He selected the latter alternative, and for a few minutes there was 
little to be seen but a confused mass of plumage and dust. Though 



176 PATHETIC STORIES OF THE WAR. 

vastly outnumbered, the Cuban champion was game to the back- 
bone, and, though he carries a white feather or two in his genera' 
make-up, there was none in his disposition. The consequence was 
that courage and skill, as they deserve to do, triumphed. Six spar- 
rows were stretched in the cold embrace of death upon the earth, 
while their companions withdrew to carry the melancholy tidings to 
the widows and orphans. 

Some volunteers had witnessed the action from a distance, as is 
their custom, when they witness it at all, and their souls were wroth 
within them. Reinforcements were hastily summoned, and a guarded 
advance was made upon this prototype of Maceo. But the pitirri 
was satisfied with his exceedingly creditable performance, pocketed 
the stakes, and quietly flew away to his club among the palms. 
Slowly and sadly the poor, lifeless remains were lifted from the 
ground, and slowly and sadly they were borne by the volunteers to 
the barracks. 

Here it was unanimously decided to honor the defunct birds with 
a public funeral. At first it was even proposed to bury them in the 
town cemetery ; but it was finally arranged that the obsequies (or the 
" orgies," as Mark Twain's tramp would say) should take place in the 
plaza. The procession to the grave was worthy of the great occasion. 
Hundreds followed the bier, which was draped with the Spanish 
colors, and covered with wreaths and emblems. 

The amazing part of this absolutely true story is that the cura, 
Father Gurna, actually headed the cortege. A volley of blank cart- 
ridges over the buried sparrows terminated the proceedings, and 
never, surely since Homer wrote of the frogs and mice, have the 
doughty deeds of such small deer been so magnificently recognised 



CHAPTER XVI. 
Successes of the Revolutionists. 

AFTER Maceo's return to the Province of Havana his course 
may be described as one continued triumph. Every opposi- 
tion which he met with was swept from his path. He defeated 
detachments, he destroyed military stations, he marched victoriously, 
until he was on the very borders of Pinar del Rio, when, according 
to the Captain-General, the rebellion had been crushed forever. 

It was impossible to obtain perfectly accurate accounts of the 
engagement, which took place in the vicinity of Palos. The official 
reports stated that an encounter occurred without furnishing further 
details ; but from what one could learn from other sources, two bands 
of the patriot army, commanded respectively by Maceo and Quintin 
Banderas, succeeded in partially surrounding th* column of Colonel 
Tort, which they routed with heavy loss. 

Directing their course to the southwest, the insurgents arrived on 
the evening of the 12th before the town of Batabano. Batabano is a 
small seaport, where vessels trading along the coast and passenger 
steamers from Havana are constantly putting in. The country in 
the vicinity is rich and fertile, while within a few miles the vast 
plantations of Melena yield annually the largest return of sugar in 
the Island. 

The town was defended by a strong volunteer detachment, win 
were further supported by a Spanish gunboat at anchor in the har- 
bor. As the Cubans advanced, the land and sea forces opened fire, 
and for a short time there was a brisk fusilade upon the insurgent 
ranks. These latter, who were, of necessity, sparing of their ammu- 
nition, returned the fire in moderation, but meanwhile pressed forward 
without an instant's pause. 

As soon as Maceo had succeeded in effecting a lodgment in the 
12 177 



178 SUCCESSES OF THE REVOLUTIONISTS. 

outskirts of the town, the volunteer army fell back precipitately 
under shelter of the guns of the guard ship, and left Batabano in the 
iiands of the invaders. The whole affair did not occupy quite an 
hour, and the losses on either side were only trifling. 

The real disaster took place after the combat, for the insurgents 
then proceeded to set fire to the principal buildings, and as the 
flames spread with great rapidity, the entire town was quickly in 
a blaze. A few houses alone escaped, so that in place of the once 
prosperous seaport there remain nothing now but the blackened and 
crumbling ruins. 

Destruction of a Beautiful Residence. 

Later the hacienda of a Mr. Goicochea was also burned to the 
ground. This beautiful country residence was called Chico, and lay 
at a distance of only eight miles from the capital, near the small town 
of Arroyo Arenas. It was said to be one of the handsomest places 
in Cuba. The house was the very beau ideal of a planter's home, 
with its wide verandas, its spacious apartments and its enclosed 
court, filled with flowers and luxuriant palms. 

The owner was a Cuban, but his sympathies were decidedly Span- 
ish. Indeed, he had at his own expense raised and equipped a body 
of guerrillas, and in many other ways had shown his hostility to the 
cause of independence. The estate was partly devoted to the culti- 
vation of coffee and tobacco, but, in addition to these, there were 
large pasturages, where about twelve hundred head of cattle and 
one hundred and fifty horses were at grass. A band of seven insur- 
gents descended on the land early in the afternoon. They had 
chosen their hour with great judgment, as the guerrillas were absent 
and two men alone represented the garrison. 

The dwelling-house and out-offices were set on fire, the carriages, 
of which there were many, and the farming implements were piled 
together and burned, and the ornamental grounds and gardens were 
laid waste. Not content with inflicting this wholesale destruction, 
the attacking party drove away all the stock, until the estimated los.<> 
is calculated to have amounted to over $200,000. 



SUCCESSES OF THE REVOLUTIONISTS. 170 

)Now, these seven insurgents, though they were decidedly what the 
Highlanders call " men of their hands," were not for that reason 
deficient in reasoning capacity. They concocted a plot, which simply, 
as a ruse de guerre, may challenge competition. They terrified the 
two prisoners whom they had secured by announcing their deter- 
mination to hang them both forthwith. Such a threat was naturally 
enough met by many prayers and entreaties, which were finally 
gi anted upon one condition. 

This was that the released men should proceed to Marianao and 
there inform the officers in command that the Cubans intended to 
attack the village of El Cano that very night. Rejoicing at their 
escape, the two readily consented, with the result that six companies 
from the St. Quintin and Peninsula regiments were ordered to march 
at once to the threatened locality. 

Spanish Troops Outwitted. 

As El Cano had latterly been supposed to be in danger, it held a 
garrison of eighty men, under the command of a sub-lieutenant, who 
had taken the precaution to strengthen his position by a barricade 
erected midway down the single street. The wily insurgents knew 
all this well, and so they hovered around the outskirts to precipitate 
the mistake which they hopefully anticipated. 

Shortly after nightfall the relieving column was heard approaching. 
" Quien vive," shouted the sentries, to which the reply, " Cuba libre!" 
came back instantly from the concealed patriots. The garrison, of 
course, concluded that they had to do with the enemy, and fired a 
volley upon their own men, who in their turn imagined that the 
town was in the hands of the insurgents. Under this delusion both 
sides continued to shoot, but as the defenders were behind walls, 
they suffered nothing, while the column speedily had many men 
hors de combat. 

After this had gone on for some time the besieging column was 
ordered to charge into the town, and they managed to advance as far 
as the barricade. Here, however, they met with such a warm recep 
tioo that the colonel decided to be satisfied with the half that he had 



180 SUCCESSES OF THE REVOLUTIONISTS. 

gained, and to wait for daylight to resume the combat. With the 
morning came an explanation. The opposing forces beheld to their 
dismay that they had made a terrible mistake, and nothing remained 
but to count up the loss. 

This was found to consist of thirteen killed and thirty-five wounded, 
including four officers and eight sergeants, all on the attacking side, 
for, so cleverly had the young sub-lieutenant disposed his men, that 
they had not suffered in the slightest degree. 

One thing deserves mention, and that is that, though these Spanish 
soldiers were armed exclusively with Mauser and Remington rifles, 
jnany of the wounds were found to have been inflicted by other 
bullets, which leads one to conclude that the seven Cubans had not 
been altogether idle spectators of the affray which they had so suc- 
cessfully brought about. 

A reliable newspaper correspondent in Cuba wrote, under date of 
March 2 1st, 1896, as follows : 

Doubtful Victories. 

" No unprejudiced person can any longer deny that himerto the 
efforts of the Captain-General to cope with the rebellion have proved 
eminently unsuccessful. The army, with a few ultra-loyal Spaniards, 
rack their invention to smooth over the situation, while optimist 
newspapers improve upon the official reports of victories. When, 
however, we see such victories followed by the unchecked progress 
of the insurgents, it is not difficult to read between the lines. 

" Nor is it even assuming too much to prophesy that the reign of 
Weyler will be brief. Martinez Campos, a soldier, and a brave one, 
to whose capacity as a commander is largely due the existence of the 
present reigning house of Spain, managed to weather the storm for 
ten months. He had not the honest support of his military col- 
leagues, and was further impeded by secret and implacable intrigue. 

" Under the circumstances, his failure was hardly to be wondered 
at. His successor, however, was the chosen of the most influential 
Spanish factions in Cuba, while the soldiers considered him as a man 
after their own heart. We were told Oi'his surpassing energy, of his 



SUCCESSES OF THE REVOLUTIONISTS. 181 

exceptional courage, and of his indomitable resolution. Of these we 
( have seen nothing, unless it be an energy to frame oppressive procla- 
mations, a courage to endure a guilty conscience, and a resolution to 
sustain the crimes of his subordinates. 

" The last few days have shown more than ever the worthlessness 
or his plans. Gomez has returned to the province of Havana. Maceo z 
Quintin Banderas and Periquito Perez have triumphed in Pinar d& 
Rio, and Nunez and De Robau continue to harass Santa Clara. 

A Young Hero. 

" Among the many brave leaders of the insurgents there is perhaps 
none who has shown more heroism than young De Robau. After 
the breaking out of the revolution he was one of the first to join the 
standard of independence. At that time he was engaged to be married, 
yet with him the call of duty was paramount over every selfish consider- 
ation. After having served for some months with conspicuous credit, 
he was sent with his command into the neighborhood of his fiance. 

" The men hitherto, it may be imagined, had not paid much atten- 
tion to their appearance, but now there was a regular conventional 
dress parade. A barber was requisitioned, accoutrements were fur- 
bished up, and weather-beaten sombreros were ornamented with 
brilliant ribands. When the metamorphosis was complete De Robau 
placed himself at the head of his dashing troop, and went in state to 
call upon the lady of his affections. 

" His march was a triumph, as everywhere he was attended by 
crowds of enthusiastic people, who had long known him, and who 
now hailed him as a distinguished champion. How he sped in his 
wooing may be gathered from the fact that an orderly was scop 
dispatched for the village cura, and that there was a wedding whicl) 
fairly rivalled that of Camacho, so often and so fondly recalled b.v 
the renowned Sancho. Since then the Senora de Robau has accom- 
panied her husband throughout the campaign, sharing the hard fare 
and the dangers of the men, and adding another to the noble band ot 
patriotic Cuban women, who vie with their husbands and brothers in 
fidelity to their native land. 



182 SUCCESSES OF THE REVOLUTIONISTS. 

'* Last Tuesday the insurgents gained an important victory. The 
columns of Colonel Inclan appear to have fallen into an ambuscade 
upon their march near Candelaria, when Maceo upon one flank and 
Banderas on the other poured in a heavy fire, inflicting serious loss. 
Nor was the misfortune confined to men alone, for it is now com- 
monly believed that the Cubans succeeded in capturing some pieces 
of artillery after a severe encounter with the gunners, who defended 
the cannon with great bravery. 

" The same patriot forces routed Colonel Frances close to Guanajay 
and compelled him to fall back for support upon the brigade of 
General Linares at Artemisa. That the wounded in both these en- 
gagements far exceed the official reports can be gathered from the 
large ambulance train which was sent out to the ground yesterday 
morning from Havana. The increasing audacity of the insurgents, 
the comparative ease and impunity with which they roam from one 
end of the Island to the other, and the burning towns and villages 
which everywhere mark the line of their advance bear witness to 
the incapacity of the present administration. 

" Nor do we hear anything further of that cane-crushing which 
was to have followed immediately after General Weyler's arrival. 
What has escaped the flames stands still uncut upon the fields, serv- 
ing as a refuge for homeless wanderers, or, as in the case of Dr. 
Delgado, as a hospital for unfortunate victims. The elections, too, 
do not progress, and merely prove a bone of contention between the 
rival parties. 

" Apropos, an amusing thing connected with these elections 
occurred here on Thursday evening. It was reported that there was 
to be a conservative demonstration against the office of the ' Discu- 
sion,' a paper of decidedly liberal views. Great preparations were 
made to repel the expected attack. Editors held a council of war, 
reporters were mustered in force, and even the newsboys were pro- 
vided with defensive weapons. One of these latter, about nine 
o'clock, when all were in breathless anticipation, very mischievously 
exploded a fire-cracker in the basement. 

" In an instant there was a general stampede. ' Sauve qui pent ! ' 



SUCCESSES OF THE REVOLUTIONISTS. 185 

was the word, and one of the most completely armed, a perfect walk- 
ing arsenal, and who had previously boasted of his valorous inten- 
tions, got himself tightly wedged into a skylight, in a frantic effort to 
seek safety on the roof. Amid the universal alarm the newsboys 
alone were calm and undaunted, and would doubtless have been pre- 
sented with a handsome testimonial had it not leaked out that they 
knew all the time that the whole affair was a practical joke. The 
announcement this morning that the ' Three Brothers ' had success- 
fully run the blockade and had landed her cargo of ammunition some- 
where on the coast was received with much secret satisfaction by all 
the Cuban sympathizers in Havana. 

The Insurgents Wage Destruction. 

" Ammunition is one of the weaknesses of the insurgents; courage, 
ability and men they possess in abundance ; but the lack of cartridges 
has interfered with many of their best-laid plans, and has often pre- 
vented them from availing themselves of favorable opportunities. 
Three or four rounds a man is nothing in an action, especially when 
the Spaniards are always so abundantly supplied. 

" It is not possible, however, to imagine that anything could inter- 
fere with the prosecution of the war on Gomez's side. He seems 
determined this time to fight to the bitter end, and as Spanish 
incapacity becomes daily more apparent, the chances for final inde- 
pendence assume a brighter aspect. Should that cause eventually 
triumph, it is devoutly to be hoped that it may triumph soon. A 
long war in any country is a terrible evil, but in Cuba, in the way in 
which it is waged, it is exceptionally disastrous. Nearly sixty small 
towns have already been burned, in addition to railway stations and 
private houses, while the damage to the cornfields, the principal source 
of capital, is almost incalculable. 

" Another year of such a conflict, and there will hardly be a dwell- 
ing left standing. Nothing but waste and ruins will mark the once 
smiling Island, and it must be long before industry and trade can 
revive. We have but a faint idea in Havana of the misery that 
exists in the interior. We can only gather a few facts, but they are 



184 SUCCESSES OF THE REVOLUTIONISTS. 

still sufficient to show that in many places the people are reduced to 
the last extremity of destitution, and are face to face with famine. 
The commonest necessaries of life are almost unattainable, and milk 
and bread have become rare luxuries. 

" The insurgents, among all this prevailing poverty, fare indiffer- 
ently; but they are more inured to hardships and capable of enduring 
much without a murmur. It has often been asserted that they pro- 
vide no comforts for their sick and wounded. So far is this from 
being the case that each one of the six provinces has now got its 
regular hospital, where Gomez's care lias established a staff of medi- 
cal attendants, and a strong garrison. The largest of all lies in that 
part of Santa Clara called the Isthmus of Zapata. It is a wild, 
swampy region, through which the natives alone can distinguish those 
precarious tracks, where the slightest deviation means being engulfed 
in the treacherous morass. 

Hospitals for the Wounded. 

" Puerto Principe has its hospital on the mountains of Cubita, 
and it stands in security on the lofty summit of the Gran Piedra. 
In Havana it is situated not far from Yagua, while in Santiago de Cuba 
and in Pinar del Rio there are asylums in the hills of Guaniguanico, 
and La Maestra. There are many smaller ones, as well, but not 
being so advantageously located, they are exposed to constant danger 
of capture, when the Spanish soldiers show little mercy to the suffer- 
ing inmates. 

" Perhaps no figure in this unhappy war is so familiar or holds 
quite so bad an eminence as does Morro Castle. Not even General 
Weyler, with all his imperfections on his head, can rival the grim old 
fortress. It is the first object which meets the eye on entering the 
harbor of Havana, and from its commanding position on a bold bluff 
over the sea, it seems to dominate the city. It was not until recently, 
however, that I had an opportunity of having more than an outside: 
view of the prison. 

" Commenced in 1589, in the reign of Philip II., of evil memory, 
it was not finally completed until the beginning of the seventeenth 



SUCCESSES OF THE REVOLUTIONISTS. 185 

century. In 1642 it was captured by an English expedition under 
the Duke of Albemarle, and remained the headquarters of the British 
army during their occupation of Cuba. It consists of a strong outer 
fortification, where there are many cells devoted to those who are 
called ' incommunicarods ' or doomed to solitary confinement. 
These are dreary rooms with floors and ceilings of stone, bare of 
furniture and lighted by a single grated window. 

Three Iron Doors. 

" On the walls are the usual evidences of how the unhappy inmates 
endeavored to while away the long, melancholy hours : Scraps of 
poetry, interspersed with prose, all of a forlorn tendency and generally 
signed with the name or initials of the captive. The passage from 
them into the interior leads through three iron doors, each one of 
which is carefully locked and barred before the succeeding one is 
opened. 

" The quadrangle inside is nearly filled by a large building, which 
constitutes the prison proper, and which is evidently of rather modern 
construction. Above, it is devoted to store-rooms and the kitchen 
department, but underneath it is traversed from end to end by two 
long passages, about twenty feet in width, closed at each extremity 
by massive bars. These passages contain the suspects awaiting trial, 
and there, with nothing to protect them from the ocean breezes, 
which blow fiercely owing to the northern exposure, and with no 
beds or blankets, they remain for months and months. They are 
never permitted to go out, and can only take what exercise the limited 
space admits of. 

" Those who have relatives or friends may receive clothes, ham- 
mocks, and even food from them, but the less fortunate are condemned 
to sleep upon the stones and to endure the cold and wet, which enter 
freely through the open grating. One of these rooms or passages 
was occupied by 108 prisoners and the other by 104. It must be 
remembered that they are all still untried ; in that stage, in fact, 
where our law would consider them as innocent. Here was a Spanish 
boy of fourteen, with an honest, kindly face, who has only been a 



186 SUCCESSES OF THE REVOLUTIONISTS. 

few months in Cuba, and who, from his youth and country, cslq 
hardly be supposed to be an aggressive insurgent. 

"Lopez Coloma is another inmate, a man who took part i the 
rising in Matanzas last February, but who surrendered in the follow- 
ing March under the amnesty proclamation of the Captain-General 
Calleja. For over a year Coloma has suffered for the faith which he 
placed in the word of a soldier and a Spanish Viceroy. In all prob- 
ability he will share the fate of Jose Gomez, a history of whose 
sufferings and tortures his wife is said to possess recorded in his 
blood. Of the other prisoners I could hear of but little evidence 
aga-nst them ; yet, be they ever so guilty, no man of ordinary feeling 
could witness without a pang the inhumanity to which they are sub- 
jected in Mo/ro Castle." 



CHAPTER XVII. 
Pen-Pictures of the War. 

ABOUT the middle of March it was announced at Havana that 
General Weyler would issue another proclamation, which, it 
was admitted in official circles, would threaten Cubans who 
had left the Island and were domiciled in the United States with the 
confiscation of t'neir property, unless they returned at once to their 
homes. This measure, according to the official apology for it, was 
to punish " those conspirators against the cause of Spain, out of the 
country as well as within it." 

While this looked like a wholesale campaign of robbery, there was 
unquestionably plenty of ground for Spanish anger at the work of 
the patriots who escaped from her clutches, and were acting so safely 
and so effectively for their cause in organizing expeditions, working 
up public sentiment and receiving assistance from the people of the 
United States to carry on the war. 

They were called conspirators. If they remained where they were 
their worldly goods were to be taken. If they returned they would 
in all probability be arrested as traitors and shot or banished. In 
either case the application of the decree would bring their estates 
within the laws and they would lose them. 

General Weyler's last preceding proclamations occasioned surprise 
by their mildness. The Cubans seemed to attach less importance to 
the provisions relating to the confiscation of their estates than to the 
articles providing for the disposition of the Civil Guard in the prin- 
cipal towns. The Civil Guard is a part of the regular army. It is, 
in fact, the better part, because the regiments of which it is com 
posed are made up of picked men. At all times, in peace or in war, 
an army of these Civil Guards is maintained on the Island. They 

do police duty and preserve order in the country. 

187 



188 PEN-PICTURES OF THE WAR. 

For over half a century Cuba has been under martial law, and 
these forces are continuously active. Peculiar powers have been 
vested in this institution, and with an extraordinary liberty in inter- 
preting and enforcing laws, which has resulted in excesses against the 
property and even the lives of inhabitants, a protection has been 
thrown about them, so that for assault, extortion, libel, injury tc 
property and a variety of other crimes a citizen has no redress. 

The oppression and cruelties of which this department of the gov- 
ernment has been guilty produced the bandits of Cuba. It was one 
of the multitude of evils which brought about the revolution, and 
besides its own criminality, it was the particular department of a 
corrupt administration with which the people were most often in con- 
tact. So many men have been assaulted and beaten to death by 
Civil Guards that a word has actually come into existence and taken 
its place in the Spanish language in Cuba to describe the action 
causing death in that manner — " compote." 

Driven to Desperation. 

Women have been subjected to indignity from these " protectors " 
of peace and good order, in the presence of male members of their 
families, who dared not resent it. These representatives of the " holy 
cause," as Spain terms her "mission" in Cuba, have been the agents 
of corrupt governors and mayors for assassinating men, under the 
old, old story of the prisoner attempting to escape, or in oppression 
and blackmail, until the ruin of the victims was accomplished. 

In Camaguey the people were driven to a point which resulted in 
their seizing and hanging some of the Civil Guards, and for a time 
that put an end to their practices in that province. At elections, the 
whole Civil Guard is simply a political machine, so powerful and so 
perfectly handled that, except in a few districts, it controls the vote. 

Manuel Garcia, one of the most dashing leaders in Gomez's army, 
who was killed by a Spanish spy sent into his company, was a ban- 
dit in Cuba before the war broke out. How he came to be an out- 
law is a fair example of the fate of many citizens. He was a respect- 
able storekeeper in Quivican, just a little way out of Havana, young 



FEN-PICTURES OF THE WAR. 189 

handsome and industrious, and was in love with a country woman. 
They were about to be married when one of the Civil Guards 
assaulted her. Garcia was immediately ordered to leave the country, 
the authorities doubtless expecting that he would kill the man, 
against whom it was impossible to bring any prosecution under the 
law, because nearly all offences committed by members of the Civil 
Guard are permitted to be tried by the Civil Guards themselves. 

Beaten and Left for Dead. 

He did not instantly shut up his store and abandon everything he 
had in the world, and a few days later two of the Civil Guards 
arrested him and took him to a place where he was stripped and 
tied to a tree and beaten with a bamboo rod until he was left appar- 
ently dead. He was found shortly by some farmers who were hunt- 
ing for lost cattle in the woods, and was carried to a house, where he 
recovered. Garcia met two other guards on the road while making 
his way back to Quivican. He said their salutation was : " If you 
haven't had enough to cause you to obey the orders, we will see that 
you get it now." 

Whether this is true is of no importance ; but, whatever the 
manner of their meeting may have oeen, it ended in Garcia killing 
both with his machete and then fleeing for his life. A price of $5,000 
was put upon his head, but he was never captured. In about a year 
he appeared as the leader of a company of fifteen or twenty men, 
and after 1892 he was a terror to the two provinces of Havana and 
Matanzas. 

The Spanish version of how Garcia became a bandit differs only in 
the point that as a butcher he sold stolen meat; that he was a thief 
and always a criminal, and that the respectable storekeeper of the 
family was Vicente Garcia. It is interesting, however, to know that 
after Manuel Garcia was a bandit " compote " was administered to 
this respectable merchant for his brother's crimes, and the abuse 
resulted in his also going to the woods and joining Manuel. 

Strange as it may seem, Garcia carried on his depredations within 
a radius seldom farther from Havana than twenty miles. At one 



190 PEN-PICTURES OF THE WAR. 

time he rode into his native city, Quivican, and turned the railroad 
station. He held up a train, and in shooting killed the conductor, 
because a request for money which he had sent to the company had 
received no attention. When the war broke out in 1895 lie was one 
of the first to rise with a force in Matanzas. He collected about 250 
mounted and armed men within forty-eight hours, and Gomez per 
mitted him to attach himself and his followers to the invading army 

A Heartless Assassination. 

Garcia, however, did not live long enough to win any laurels as a 
fighter for the republic, although his bravery and spirit, and his per- 
fect knowledge of the country, gained as a fugitive, made his services 
invaluable for a time. It was possible to kill Garcia because of his 
new surroundings. A brother of Fernandez de Castro, a sugar-estate 
owner, was kidnapped by Garcia, and a ransom of $14,000 had to be 
paid by Castro to secure his release. A friend of the Castros is said to 
have determined to avenge the act, and he enlisted in one of Garcia's 
companies. He shot Garcia, and before he could escape was cut to 
pieces with the machetes of the chief's men. It was said, and seems 
to be generally believed, that Garcia sent at least $25,000 to the 
States to be used in helping defray the expenses of an expedition. 

Perico Delgado, the leader of the rebel forces in Pinar del kio, and 
for a time Maceo's scout; Agiiero, Matagas, Mirabal and Socorros, 
•second in command under Delgado in Vuelta Abajo, were all bandits. 
Agiiero and Matagas were killed. 

We have referred to the history of Garcia to give an idea of the 
interest which attaches to General Weyler's plans for using this Civil 
Guard. They were centered in all the principal towns, and as fast as 
surrounding villages were subdued detachments were sent into them. 
Moving and disseminating from central positions, the guard was 
eventually to acquire domination of the whole Island. In every 
town the civil authorities were to be removed, and the commander of 
the Civil Guard was to exercise the function of mayor and general 
executive. Into the hands of these leaders was given an arbitiary 
power which was fairly startling. 



PEN-PICTURES OF THE WAR. 19l 

They govern by martial law, and are at liberty to exercise their 
own judgment in all emergencies. The first thing they do is to 
make up a list of loyal citizens in their towns and districts, and 
another list of rebels and rebel sympathizers, who have gone out to 
fight or who remain at home ; and the amount of blackmailing done 
under threats of putting men's names in the wrong list is easily con- 
ceived. All public offices to which the people have elected m<*n of 
their choice in recent years were vacated by this decree. 

The conclusion of this plan, as outlined in the proclamation^ con- 
tained an admission that the Spanish were operating largely ^n the 
defensive, since the rebel armies had invaded and taken possession of 
the whole country, province by province, except the few large cities. 
The language of this admission was that as rapidly as possible towns 
were to be fortified and placed "in a state of defense to prevent sur- 
prise." The other provisions of the proclamation, touching the 
confiscation of estates whose owners were insurgents, or who assisted 
them, were not particularly severe or improper. 

The Cubans have their national anthem, some account of which 
will be of interest to the reader : " Wherever the armies of the revo- 
lution have gone they have carried it with them. The soldiers have 
Jung it. Their bands have played it. In the festivities that cele- 
brate their entrance into every town and village it has the most 
prominent place in the music. At the balls it is the last event for 
women, girls, men and boys to join in the chorus of ' Bayamesa's 
Hymn,' as it is called. The words and music are familiar all over 
Cuba, for the people are like the ruralists of Spain in one respect, 
their love for ballads. 

"In times of peace the wandering minstrel with guitar or mandolin 
is as familiar a figure in the hill towns and villages of Cuba as in the 
romances of Spain. And everybody sings or can sing ; except in 
those awful periods of butchery called ' wars with Spain ' and the 
subsequent recovery from devastation and poverty. Cuba is one of 
the happiest countries in the world. She is one of the richest. No 
man ever went to bed hungry in Cuba, except in war times. They 
seldom borrow their melodies. They make them. 



H)2 FEN-PICTURES OF THE WAR. 

"And, as if they were unconsciously sad, as if half a century of suc- 
ceeding revolutions had burdened their very souls with lamentation, 
nearly all their songs have a plaintiveness that is striking to the ear 
of a stranger. Their nature has not been subdued, but their hearts 
have been broken. The ' Bayamesa's Hymn,' however, is in a robust F 
major, perhaps because it is so old, for one reason. It has been sung 
for many, many years as a Cuban ballad and has, in its entirety, some 
fifty verses, if all that have been sung to it were put together. But 
the theme never varies — ' to arms, not for glory, but to break the 
chains of tyranny.' " 

They Burned their City. 

In the last war — the ten years' war — the city of Bayamo was to 
have been occupied by a Spanish army. The people were aware of 
the approach of the enemy, and, as the Russians did at Moscow, they 
burned their city, leaving nothing but its smoldering ruins to exhibit 
their hatred and horror of the invaders. To this day Bayamo of the 
seventies is simply a monument in crumbling walls to the patriotism 
of a people who had even before that inspired the Bayamesa's Hymn 
by their deeds. 

It is impossible to give a translation which conveys all the inten- 
sity of the emotions aroused by the song, as it is one of those in 
which the melody seems to have sprung from the very syllables of 
the words, and neither can be separated from the other without 
injury. In turning the old ballad into a national hymn Cubanos has 
been substituted for Bayames. 

Besides prohibiting this song or the playing of the music in Havana 
or other cities in Spanish possession, the authorities have had to sup- 
press ballads which have been written by the Cubans caricaturing 
royalty and the " holy cause " of Spain. They have been prolific in 
turning them out, and one in particular, against which a special decree 
was issued from the Palace, was written with the music in waltz time, 
and the words beginning with and parodying that familiar sentence at 
the end of all Spanish reports of the battles with the Cubans, " Por 
nuestra parte no hay novedad " — on our part we had no loss. 



PEN-PICTURES OF THE WAR. 193 

The air was so catchy that it was soon being whistled and played 
all over Havana. The Spanish authorities took it seriously, and they 
issued a decree making the death penalty for any one to utter the 
melody with words, and one can no longer sing of Spanish victories 
— at least to that tune. 

Stirring Strains of Music. 

All the revolutionary forces have bands and plenty of music. 
Always upon entering a town, if they are not taking it by fighting, 
they ride in with the band playing martial music. The people turn 
out to welcome them — what people there are left — and the same young 
women who gave them all their smiles flee in terror when a Spanish 
column approaches their hamlet, for outrages or even n urder are in 
store if they remain. The Cuban soldiers are much given to personal 
adornment. 

They wear the great five-pointed star on their hats, and the bands 
are braided with red, white and blue ribbons. Their horses' bridles 
are gaudily tasseled, and the men are as expert horsemen as there are 
in the world. They are welcomed, and their presence, the festivities, 
the dances, the stories of their battles, all go to make their coming 
a happy event. When they leave the band plays the Bayames Hymn. 
This is in towns, of course, where the Spanish have no garrisons. In 
the latter the coming of the insurgent army is an invasion with the 
firebrand and rifle, and the Bayamesa's Hymn gives way to a wild 
uproar of voices crying, " Viva Cuba Libre ! " 

General Gomez introduced a new plan for the relief of owners of 
sugar estates, which was intended to result in saving several millions 
of dollars' worth of property that would otherwise go to ruin. Per- 
mits were issued to planters who asked for them, which would let 
them plow and prepare land for planting cane, cut burned cane which 
was standing, and, in fact, perform almost any other work necessary 
to preserve their properties. The grinding of cane was prohibited, 
as was the production of anything else which would benefit the 
revenues of Spain. Gomez, however, became so confident that the 
war would be over within a year, that every possible measure to save 
13 



194 PEN-PICTURES OF THE WAR. 

the sugar estates which obeyed the orders against grinding was to 
be taken. 

If the burned cane was allowed to stand it would rot and fall, and 
leave the fields in a wretched condition, requiring an unusual amount 
of labor in weeding and cultivating and keeping the ground clean. 
The roots, however, would not be killed, but would sprout and grow 
after the rainy season. Cane which has not been cut will keep on 
growing, and if the war ended so that grinding could be resumed, the 
heavier and richer cane would produce so much sugar that a part of 
the losses would be offset. This gain would be material anyway, but it 
would practically amount to even more than the actual increase in 
the bearing of sugar, because the expenses of grinding for some time 
were not incurred. 

Statistics Concerning Sugar. 

We quote from a statement relating to the sugar industry: 

" There are about 750,000 acres of cane under cultivation. Re- 
planting, which covers the plowing of the ground and the care of the 
crop up to the time for cutting it, would cost about $25 an acre. 
Some of it would cost more. The introduction of American methods, 
substituting steam plows, cultivators and higher class of labor for the 
primitive means generally employed, has brought the cost down to 
#12 an acre in a few plantations recently replanted. Assuming the 
average to be $20 an acre, the loss facing the planter, in the event of 
u longer conflict, would approach $15,000,000. It would take Cuba 
years to recover, and many men would be hopelessly ruined. 

" The importance of this new privilege is therefore apparent. No 
such condition existed in the ten years' war, because that revolution 
never extended over much more than half the Island. Many planters 
are already hastening to secure the advantages of the permission to 
work their land, but their great obstacle is the absence of labor. 
Three-quarters of the men working upon the estates last year are 
either in the rebel armies or have fled to the cities for refuge. An- 
other embarrassment is the lack of money. 

"The planters can secure no advances upon crops because there is 



PEN-PICTURES OF THE WAR. 195 

to be no sugar produced. They cannot mortgage their holdings 
because lenders are putting out nothing in Cuba, and are striving 
instead to get every dollar away from the Island which tney have 
there. Nevertheless, the new order of things is a benefit to the 
planters who can profit by it. Thousands of acres of cane will be 
saved, and plowing is already being done on several estates in Havana 
and Matanzas provinces. 

" The orders are following so quickly the action of Congress that 
there is a general belief in a connection between the two events. 
There has never been a moment when the revolutionary leaders have 
not maintained that with belligerency rights from the United States 
the end of the war would be at hand within a few months. They are 
more confident of this now than ever before, since at the moment the 
granting of those rights seems to be at hand the bankrupt condition 
of Spain is also announced. 

Is Spain Bankrupt? 

" If Gomez foresaw the terrible blow to Spain which the cutting 
off her revenues from the sugar crop was to inflict, it was unquestion- 
ably a master stroke of policy, due to a degree of strategical fore- 
sight for which Spain had never given him credit. It is significant 
that even in Havana there was permitted to be published a cablegram 
from London, which read : ' The economical review, the " Statist," 
states that Spain is in bankruptcy, and that the war in Cuba may 
oblige her to confess this situation.' " 

The paralysis of business which afflicted Cuba was manifesting itself 
in a new way. Spanish merchants who had been loyal to Spain all 
along were crying now for peace at any price. In conversation they 
admitted that they were holding off from day to day the inevitable 
crash, and that it was no longer a question of months, but of days, 
before the business houses of the Island would go down like a row 
of dominoes. If Cuba was to be lost, curiously encugh they 
declared that they preferred annexation to the United States rather 
than attempting to live under the newly-constructed government. 

There was a motive of selfishness or fear which accounts for this. 



196 



PEN-PICTURES OF THE WAR. 



They believed that with the Cubans in power they would be shut out 
of everything and possibly subjected to such restrictions as the 
Cubans were now under, but they believed that under the govern- 
ment of the United States they would be allowed to hold their own 
within the limits of legitimate competition. 

Facing Both Ways. 

They talked about the " destiny of Cuba," they argued over 
" channels of commerce," and they discussed what they called " the 
inevitable tendencies of commercial control," and then the next 
moment raised their voices to proclaim their eternal loyalty to Spain 
and signed a memorial to General Weyler containing a pledge of 
" our unconditional adhesion to your Excellency and our willingness 
to sacrifice our fortunes and even our lives to retain Cuba under the 
bonds of Spain." 

Some figures were prepared and printed, with the sanction of the 
Spanish, showing the sugar exports of the Island for two months, 
which, derpite their source, indicated the affliction from which all 
business was suffering through General Gomez's orders cutting off 
the product. In 1895, on March 1, there had been received at the 
ports of the Island 319,326 tons of sugar. A year later the amount 
up to the same date was 53,298. This was notwithstanding the fact 
that the estates began grinding six weeks earlier than the year before, 
in fear of the rebels coming and in an effort to save all the cane 
possible before grinding would have to be suspended. Therefore the 
normal inflow of sugar stood as 319,000 tons, against 53,000 tons 
under pressure. 

From Sagua, which, in 1895, at this date, had 204,000 sacks of 
sugar in hand, not one sack was marketed. The figures from 
Matanzas were, for the same date, 1895, 466,000 sacks ; 1896, 59,000 
sacks; from Cardenas, 1895, 323,300; in 1896, 1,294; from Cien- 
fuegos, 1895,266,200; in 1896,28,000; from Caibarien, 1895, 150,- 
800; in 1896, 25,600; from Cuba, 1895, 81,000; in 1896, 10,700; 
from Zaza, 1895, 10,500; in 1896, none ; from Trinidad, 1895, I4,49 6 J 
in 1896, none. The entire export of sugar in 1895 was generally 



PEN-PICTURES OF THE WAR. 197 

figured at 6,500,000 sacks, or between 975,000 and 1,000,000 tons. 
According to these official figures the exports of sugar for the same 
time in 1896 and the amount on hand were as follows : 

Tons. 

Exports 76,076 

Amount consumed 8,400 

Amount on hand 55,489 

Total 139.965 

Amount of this which represents old stock left over 86,667 

Remainder in sight 53,298 



Under date of March 20th it was stated that the insurgent generals 
were still outwitting and outgeneraling the Spaniards with a com- 
pleteness which would be ludicrous if the horrors of the Spanish 
attempt at brutal conquest were not always present in one's mind. 

Maceo's invasion of Pinar del Rio had already attained such im- 
portance that it was designated " the second invasion." Although 
he had not started on his return, a brief summary of the events which 
had already occurred will show how important this invasion was to 
the issue of the war. The first event occurred two weeks before, 
when Maceo, who had been moving eastward through Matanzas, 
turned back toward the west. The seven Spanish columns, often 
referred to, were suddenly called upon to check him. 

General Weyler's staff planned a manoeuvre which would bring all 
tne forces into conjunction, surrounding Maceo's army at a point one 
mile from Coliseo. The orders were sent by telegraph to Generals 
Prat, Linares and Aldecoa and Colonel Hernandez requiring them to 
make that place at two o'clock in the afternoon. The telegraph 
operator let the message go correctly to General Prat, but changed the 
hour to six in the other messages; and when General Prat came upon 
Maceo he had about 3,500 men and the rebels over 8,000 cavalry. 
General Prat was forced to retreat with the column badly shattered. 

A second combination was attempted twfc days later t.s?r Limonar. 



198 PEN-PICTURES OF THE WAR. 

where Maceo was apparently intending to cross the line into Havana 
province. This also failed, for the reason that Colonel Tort with the 
Almancea battalion, a newly-arrived body of green recruits from 
Spain who had never seen fighting, attempted to hold the vital point 
on the lines. Maceo's veterans swept down upon them and broke 
through the combination with a fierce fight which fairly wiped out 
the Almancea battalion. 

Brave Telegraph Operator. 

The Spanish retired in the direction of Limonar, carrying about 
ioo wounded; and, besides the nineteen dead they carried away, 
left seven on the field, which the rebels buried. With these victories 
Maceo's road was clear, and after a (e\v engagements of minor 
importance came the burning of the important town of Batabano. 
What the Spanish did to defend it is best told by their own report: 

" When we saw the establishment, El Canon, belonging to Mr. 
Ricardo Ganidera, the first house burned, was in flames, the troops, 
in anticipation of what might occur, retired to the forts." 

They were so whipped out that General Weyler, the day after the 
burning of the city, ordered the payment of $10 to each man in the 
garrison to enable him to buy clothing. Here a gunboat lay out in 
the harbor and shelled the town while the insurgents were burning 
it, but Quintin Bandera happened to have four cannons, and when 
these unexpectedly opened upon the gunboat she put out to sea. 

In this fight the cannon shots were passing over the roof of the 
little cable station where the line drops off shore, and the operator 
had to stand outside waving a lantern constantly to enable the gun- 
ners on the water to direct their shots over him or to one side. He 
had to take his chances with the rebels when their cannons began to 
take part, and at one time he set down his lantern long enough to 
telephone to Havana : " Good-by, boys. It's all up with us, and — " 
There the wire was cut. He waved his light again till he saw the 
gun-boat leaving, and then lay flat down on the ground and waited. 
It was three days before the line was repaired and he was able to send 
word that he was still alive. 



PEN-PICTURES OF THE WAR. L99 

While this was going on the Spanish were setting a third line in a 
combination of troops to keep Maceo within Havana province and 
out of Pinar del Rio at any cost. Colonel Hernandez and Colonel 
Inclan, with nearly 3,000 men, were hurriedly sent in front of Maceo 
by trains down the western railway. General Ochando, the chief of 
General Weyler's staff, said that morning, the 13th: "They have 
entered this province again, but I have just given orders to bar their 
way into Pinar del Rio, and, although I don't know whether they 
will succeed in getting there or not, if they do they will never come 
out alive." Two days later Maceo's forces defeated Hernandez and 
Inclan at the Estate Neptuno, near Mangas, between Artemisa and 
Candelaria, and captured the mules with the ammunition and rations. 

Sudden Attack from Ambush. 

The next day occurred one of the hardest fights of the invasion. 
The troops of General Linares had begun to arrive to assist Her- 
nandez and Inclan. They brought cavalry and artillery. The 
Spanish forces were moving along the road which lies between 
Candelaria and Guanajay. It was raining in torrents. Suddenly the 
whole division found itself in an ambush ; 4,000 insurgents were 
behind stone fences on both sides of the road, and as soon as the 
fighting began they closed in front and rear. There was fighting for 
two hours. The insurgents used the ammunition they had captured 
the day before. They captured two cannons and more ammunition, 
and inflicted such losses upon the Spanish that a special train was 
sent out from Havana to bring in the dead and wounded. It was 
even given out at the Palace that the troops had suffered two captains 
killed, four lieutenants wounded and fifty-seven soldiers wounded. 
There were about fifty soldiers killed. 

Of course, it was called a Spanish victory, and it was announced, 
rl We dispersed the enemy with bayonet charges." The next day, the 
1 8th, at Cayajabos, the insurgents took possession of the burned 
town for a camp. Gen. Linares, Col. Frances and Col. Inclan 
attacked them. Col. Francis arrived first. Gen. Linares and Col. 
Inclan heard the cannonading and rifle-fire and hurried on. The 



200 PEN-PICTURES OF THE WAR. 

fight here lasted four hours, and the Spanish had four captains and 
seven lieutenants killed, the killed and wounded soldiers numbering 
nearly 300. The insurgents captured 1,000 rifles, and, on account of 
their strong position in the town, got through the day with about 
eighty losses, dead and wounded, as nearly as can be learned. Col. 
Francis was wounded and was brought back to Havana. 

Maceo's Skillful Tactics. 

This is an outline of the invasion. It is sufficient to show that 
Maceo's march was attended by every effort which the Spanish could 
exert to prevent his progress, that their resources were taxed to 
the uttermost, but that they failed at every point. He was still on 
his march. The Spanish were again behind him. Of his 12,000 
men he suffered no appreciable loss ; but captured some of the 
enemy's artillery, disabled one of their best leaders in Col. Frances, 
took 1,000 Mausers, and more than all these combined, he utterly 
destroyed the effect of Gen. Weyler's proclamation declaring that 
Havana and Pinar del Rio were cleared up and closed to the insur- 
gent armies. 

Gen. Gomez's movements were fully as significant as Maceo's in- 
vasion. Apparently satisfied that his lieutenant-general was perfectly 
safe in caring for himself, Gomez went back into Santa Clara, and 
crossed the Spanish military lines of that province, without firing a 
shot. Gomez had entirely disappeared from the official reports for 
three days, and then this was given out : " It is believed that Gomez 
is in Havana province." As if Gomez and 6,000 men could dis- 
appear and move around unobserved in a district hardly larger than 
Long Island. Gomez's move doubtless caused some embarrassment 
in the official reports, because they had him " driven " desperately 
into Santa Clara two weeks before, then he was being " harassed " 
back again and was " forced to make a union with Maceo," and later 
on they were " forced to separate." While Maceo was being fought 
and dispersed at every point on his invasion, Gomez was standing at 
a point near the centre of Matanzas watching the successful beginning 
of Maceo's march, and for some reason the reports dropped him 



PEN-PICTURES OF THE WAR. 201 

there. The reference to his being " believed to be " in this province 
may have been due to the disappointment of his having gone into 
Santa Clara while all attention was being directed toward Maceo. 

The Spanish merchants of Havana raised a subscription in the 
shape of pledges, with the purpose of offering a reward of $50,000 
for " the head of Gomez, dead or alive," and $30,000 for the head of 
Maceo, under the same conditions. This was generally considered 
as one of the most practical suggestions which had been made for 
ending the war. 

This horrible proclamation was issued at Holguin about the 20th of 
March : " Be it known, that all the forces who operate in the territory 
of this division have orders to fire without giving the halt to any per- 
son who travels at night on the roads outside of the cities and towns, 
and with the object of preventing any accidents this publication is 
made for general knowledge." 

The butcheries of Balmaceda and every ghastly chapter of the ten 
years of blood were committed under a decree of which this was sim- 
ply a reiteration. Gen. March, who issued this decree, was a recent 
arrival in Cuba, and was in command of the Twenty-third Division 
of the First Army Corps. He held the rank of brigadier-general. 

Sanctioned by the Spanish General. 

This bloody edict had the indirect sanction of Gen. Weyler, 
because he had not abrogated it, and because in his proclamations he 
conferred almost unlimited powers upon the commanders of army 
corps, and they in turn issued decrees and approved others published 
by the heads of their divisions. As a consequence, scores of procla- 
mations were coming out in all the provinces and zones of the Island, 
Vhich carried the weight and authority of a proclamation from the 
zaptain-general, but which were thus given in a form that avoided the 
necessity of their coming to the eyes of the world with his signature. 

There was no distinction of age or sex in Gen. March's decree. 
There was no responsibility placed upon the assassins who were thus 
given the lives of those whose homes were outside the cities, or who, 
for any cause whatsoever, passed out of the doors of their houses 



202 PEN-PICTURES OF THE WAR. 

after sunset. There was no reason that the ruffians who were abusing 
thousands upon thousands of defenseless women and girls should 
leave any evidences of their crimes, or even await the absence of 
natural protectors. The robberies which so many Spaniards were 
protesting against in delegations which were visiting Gen. Weyler 
almost daily, were of course made safe by such a decree. Col 
Molina's threatening to shoot down the owner of the Rosario 
estate, Ramon Pelayos, was something for which he did not have 
to answer, as he was safe under a similar decree covering the sec- 
tion of Matanzas province. 

Thirsting for Blood. 

There are Americans all through the Island, and naturalized 
Americans of Cuban birth (the distinction is simply in the degree of 
the hatred which the Spanish have for both), who might safely be put 
out of the way under a decree which said that every person should 
be killed without even a challenge. This was the state of affairs 
which the blood-thirsty "volunteers" had been crying for since the 
clay that they welcomed Gen. Weyler' s landing. Then they stood in 
front of the Palace bellowing, " Give us Cepero's head," and, " Blood 
to fertilize Cuba." Now they were following the prisoners who were 
brought into the towns, screaming : " Kill them ! Kill the devilish 
insurgents ! We want no more prisoners." 

A batch of prisoners, pinioned and tied arm to arm, were attacked 
by a mob at the Machina as they were about to be taken from a 
steamer to the Cabanas and were beaten, kicked and bruised almost 
to death, while the guards stood by and looked on. If this was per- 
mitted in Havana, what could be expected beyond the city, where 
the whole Island was in darkness concerning the events that were 
taking place ? 

Every day made matters worse. The Guatao massacre resulted in 
the bestowal of honors upon the Marquis of Cevera by making him 
the military governor of Marianao, and Capt. Calvo, whom he sent to 
Guatao, and whose men committed the eighteen murders, was now in 
command of the troops, which were placed at the disposition of the 



PEN-PICTURES OF THE WAR. 203 

Marquis. The massacre on the Delgado estate, from which the 
American Dr. Delgado escaped miraculously, but not until four boys 
znd two men had been shot and macheted to death, and an old man 
of 70 had been left for dead, was rapidly being forgotten, and Gen, 
Melguizo was still conducting the operations of his columns, and 
glorious victories were almost daily attributed to him in the Spanish 
official reports. 

These reports described the Delgado massacre, and the murder of 
15-year-old Catarino Rubio, before her mother and sisters, while she 
was attempting to prevent the soldiers, who had shot her father, from 
stripping his body, as "victories" of General Melguizo's forces. Rape 
and death and destruction were sweeping over the western end of 
Cuba, annihilating the population or driving the people out of the 
country, and what property the insurgents were not destroying was 
being given to the firebrand by the Spanish. 

Details of Another Massacre. 

There were rumors of another massacre which was said to have 
occurred near the estate Esperanza, in the Sagua district. It was 
impossible to get any reliable details, but the following was published 
in the Discussion, a Havana newspaper: — " Major Goicochea, on the 
1 6th, left the estate Esperanza with a detachment of guerrillas, and 
found a vanguard, which fired upon them. They rushed at them with 
machetes after the discharge, causing them a loss of six. Continuing the 
march, the column arrived at Bernigal, near to the Olayita estate, 
encountering the main body of the rebel force. Here an engagement 
took place, resulting in the dispersing of the enemy, and causing 
them nine more dead. I must remark," concludes the correspondent, 
" that the dead were all killed by machetes, and by the guerrilla 
Goicochea." 

A force of Havana volunteers, under the command of Major Pru- 
dencia Noreiga, burned the buildings where the tenants lived on the 
San Jose estate in Manacas, Santa Clara, and then obliged the home- 
less people to go to the town of Placetas, where they might find 
shelter and food if they happened to have any friends. Before send- 



204 PEN-PICTURES OF THE WAR. 

ing them off they made five of the men prisoners on the charge that 
they were insurgents, although one of them, Fermin Urrutia, was 
eighty years old. 

The last that was ever seen of these prisoners alive was when some 
friends saw them digging a ditch around the fort at the Tahon Railway 
station, and the next morning five bodies were found dead on the San 
Pablo estate, so hacked with machete cuts that they were disfigured be- 
yond recognition. In the pocket of one was a paper showing him 
to be Marcelino Herandez, one of the five prisoners. After this 
became known, the women who had gone on to Placetas sent 
Nicholas Valdivia to the commander, Noreiga, to ask what had 
become of their husbands. Valdivia was seen to enter the fort, but 
he was not heard of afterward. 

Unprovoked Murder. 

After General Prat was unsuccessful in capturing Maceo in the 
attempted combination near Coliseo, a detachment rode up to the 
Demante estate, owned by Laureano Angulo, and fired at four negroes 
who were standing near one of the buildings. They were all killed. 
One of them was holding a boy in his arms, who escaped. There 
was never any explanation of this, but it is supposed the Spanish 
troops believed they were spies. The people who had fled from the 
country into Matanzas, and some of them who came on to Havana, 
declared that the men were "pacific?,dos," or farm hands, who were 
non-combatants. 

The following graphic portraiture of General Weyler is from the 
pen of a journalist and gives an interesting account of the Spanish 
commander : 

" Most men resemble their reputations, and if a life famously spent 
is in the mind of one who visits a character of world-wide repute, he 
quite naturally discovers peculiarities of facial expression and phy> 
sique which appear to account for the individuality of the man, 
fighter, philosopher, criminal, reformer or whatever he may be. 

" All this is true of General Weyler. He is one of those men who 
create a first impression, the first sight of whom never can be effaced 



PEN-PICTURES OF THE WAR. 205 

from the mind, by whose presence the most careless observer is 
impressed instantly, and yet, taken altogether, he is a man in whom 
the elements of greatness are concealed under a cloak of impene- 
trable obscurity. Inferior physically, unsoldierly in bearing, exhibit- 
ing no trace of refined sensibilities nor pleasure in the gentle associa- 
tions that others live for or at least seek as diversions, he is neverthe- 
less the embodiment of mental acuteness, crafty, unscrupulous, fear- 
i less and of indomitable perseverance. 

" He is one of the most magnetic men in whose presence I have 
ever stood — yet not attractive. His overwhelming personality is 
irresistible — yet he is unpleasant of appearance. He turns the mind 
into a quick seeker for similarities, and one comes quickly. To me 
it was Marat. I have never seen a presentation of Marat that might 
not profitably be exchanged for a delineation of Weyler. It would 
account more satisfactorily for the power he attained — that domina- 
tion of men with which it is so hard to candidly associate those pic- 
tures of the tyrant that are familiar to the stage. 

No Appeal from Weyler's Decree. 

"I am not saying that Weyler is a second Marat; but I recall 
Wevler's history, and that now his will is life or death to over a 
million and a half of people, that from his decree there is no appeal, 
that the making of the laws has been given to him by a decree so 
absolute that he may confer all his powers upon any subordinate. 

" I have talked with Campos, Marin and Weyler, the three Cap- 
tains-General to whom Spain has intrusted (thus far unsuccessfully) 
the reconquest of Cuba. Reconquest seems an ill-chosen word, but 
one of General Weyler's staff has so denominated this war, and Cuban 
revolutions can be settled only by conquests. Campos was an excep- 
tional man. Marin was commonplace. Weyler is unique. Campos 
and Marin affected gold lace, dignity and self-conciousness. Weyler 
ignores them all as useless, unnecessary impediments, if anything, to 
the one object of his existence. Campos was fat, good-natured, wise, 
philosophical, slow in his mental processes, clear in his judgment, 
emphatic in his opinions, outspoken, and withal, lovable, humane, 



206 PEN-PICTURES OF THE WAR. 

conservative, constructive, progressive, with but one project ever 
before him, the glorification of Spain as a mother-land and a figure 
among peaceful, enlightened nations. 

" Weyler is lean, diminutive, shriveled, ambitious for immortality 
irrespective of its odor, a master of diplomacy, the slave of Spain 
for the glory of sitting at the right of her throne, unlovable, unloving, 
exalted— and doubtless justly— in self-esteem, because he is un- 
mistaken in his estimation of his value to his Queen. His passion is 
success, per se, foul or fair consequences or the conventional ideas of 
humanity notwithstanding. 

His Mental Peculiarities. 

" Imagine that man ever loving a woman ! That is the first exclama- 
tion his presence suggests. They say that Weyler had a mother, and 
that he loved her. I know, for I have heard him say so, that he re- 
members something of his grandfather, who was a German, whence 
came his name. But there is not enough blood in his frail little body 
to warm into life those passions that revere the closer relations of 
womanhood, and mentally he is incapable of intellectual affections. 
What he lives for is completely epitomized in his person, and as 
others have been, I also was conscious of it the first time I saw him. 

" That was in the Palace, of course. The gates were guarded by 
gaudy soldiers tinseled and polished. Every turn in the stairway 
and corridors was emblazoned with the arms and emblem of Spain. 
Officers of all ranks, groomed, barbered and powdered, were visible in 
scores. In the great Sala de Recibimiento were all military condi- 
tions from lieutenants to generals, whose hushed conversation and 
functional palaver were oppressive. On through this crowd and 
through more obstacles of formality to the presentation, the journey 
through the forest of gold lace terminated before the closed door of 
General Weyler's official abode. There an adjutant more bedizzened 
than the rest of the dazzling multitude trod softly to the portico, gently 
opened the way, retired again without a word, and we were alone 
in the presence of the man. 

"And what a picture! A little man. An apparition of blacks— 



PEN-PICTURES OF THE WAR. 20? 

black eyes, black hair, black beard, dark — exceedingly dark — com- 
plexion ; a plain black attire, black shoes, black tie, a very dirty shirt 
and soiled standing collar, with no jewelry and not a relief from the 
aspect of darkness anywhere on his person. He was alone, and 
was standing facing the door I entered. He had taken a position in 
the very centre of the room, and seemed lost in its immense depths. 
It is capable of holding four hundred people. Its vast marble floor 
is vacant of furniture, and its walls, of great height, are covered with 
portraits, larger than life, of the captains-general of Cuba during one 
hundred and twenty years. Voices echo in the cavernous chamber, 
and the ancient personages looked down upon an invasion of their 
quarter almost as if they, too, were receiving, with the living picture 
which will some day hang among them. It was like a stage-setting 
around this remarkable man. 

Form and Features. 

' It is not remarkable that I momentarily hesitated to make certain 
that this was actually Weyler. Doubt was dispelled with a look at 
his face. His eyes, far apart, bright, alert and striking, took me in at 
a glance. His face seemed to run to chin, his lower jaw protruding 
far beyond any ordinary indication of firmness, persistence or will- 
power. His forehead is neither high nor receding ; neither is it that 
of a thoughtful or philosophic man. His ears are set far back; and 
what is called the region of intellect, in which are those mental 
attributes that might be defined as powers of observation, calculation, 
judgment and execution, is strongly developed. The conformation 
of his head, however, is not one that is generally accepted as an 
indication of any marked possession of philoprogenitiveness or its 
kindred emotions and inclinations. His nose is aquiline, bloodless 
and obtrusive. When he speaks it is with a high nasal enunciation 
that is not disagreeable, because it is not prolonged ; and his sen- 
tences justify every impression that has already been formed of the 
man. They were short, crisp, emphatic and expressive. 

" ' I have an aversion to speech,' he said. ' I am an enemy of pub- 
lications. I prefer to act, not to talk. I am here to restore peace. 



208 PEN-PICTURES OF THE WAR. 

When peace is in the land I am going away. I aru a soldier. 
When I am gone politicians will reconstruct Cuba, and probably 
they will upset things again until they are as bad as they are now. 
I care not for America, England— any one — but only for the treaties 
we have with them. They are the law. I observe the law and 
every letter of the law. I have my ideas of Cuba's relation to Spain. 
I have never expressed them. Some politicians would agree with 
them ; others would not. No one would agree with all of them. I 
know I am merciless, but mercy has no place in war. I know the 
reputation which has been built up for me. Things that are charged 
to me were done by officers under me, and I was held responsible for 
all things in the ten-years' war, including its victorious end. I do not 
conceal the fact that I am here solely because it is believed I can 
crush this insurrection. I care not what is said about me, unless it 
is a lie so grave as to occasion alarm. I am not a politician. I am 
Weyler.' 

" Planted squarely on his tiny feet, which were set far apart, Gen. 
Weyler talks with his hands in his trousers' pockets and a half smile 
dimly playing over his features ; but every word he utters is without 
gesture or intonation which gives one thought the slightest emphasis 
or importance over another. The great pictures of the captains-gen- 
eral of a hundred years seem to look down in admiration upon the 
man in whose keeping Spain has intrusted all that their century of 
labor has produced. 

" For some reason there was no disposition on my part to reply in 
those meaningless, commonplace but always necessary acknowledg- 
ments of courtesy. Adroit phrases mean nothing to Weyler. I was 
frozen by his atmosphere for the moment into a being remotely 
resembling himself, and as dignifiedly, concisely, unconsciously per- 
haps as the tone of his conversation, I made the requests which had 
led to my visit and retired. There again was the sea of gold lace, 
the multitude of generals and lieutenants, the noisy clanking of swords 
and spurs, the gaudy guards at the gate, all keeping up the appear- 
ances of military domination ; but behind them in the recesses of the 
Palace was the man, the memory, the Altogether of Spain in Cuba." 



CHAPTER XVIII. 
Side-Lights upon the Struggle. 

THE intense sympathy for Cuba among the American people was 
voiced by the following editorial in one of our most widtly- 
circulated journals, which was only one of many similar in 
sentiment that appeared in the newspaper press throughout the 
country : " Cuba bleeds at every pore, and Liberty goes weeping 
through a land desolated by cruel war and throttled by the iron hand 
of a foreign despotism. We hold that this government would be 
justified not only in recognizing Cuban belligerency, but also in 
recognizing Cuban independence on the sole ground of the rights 
and claims of outraged humanity. Take, for instance, the following 
proclamation of an almost general death sentence issued by Butcher 
Weyler : 

Those who invent or circulate, by any means whatsoever, news 
or information which directly or indirectly favors the rebellion. 

" ' Those who destroy or damage railroads, telegraph or telephone 
lines, or interrupt communication by destroying bridges or wagon- 
roads. 

" ' Those who sell, carry or deliver arms or ammunition, or in any 
other way furnish or keep them in their possession. Persons know- 
ing of the importing of such articles and not causing their seizure 
incur criminal responsibility. 

Those who by word, or through print, or in any other manner 
belittle the prestige of Spain's army, volunteers, firemen or any other 
force operating in this army. 

Those who by the same means endeavor to praise the enemy. 
*' ' Those who furnish the enemy horses or other means of service 
in warfare. 

" ' Those who act as spies. 

14 209 



210 SIDE-LIGHTS UPON THE STRUGGLE. 

" ' Those who, having acted as rebel guides, fail to report imme- 
diately and prove that they were compelled to do so by force, fur- 
nishing on the spot proofs of their loyalty. 

'• ' Those who adulterate provisions for the army or combine to 
raise the price of the same. 

" ' Those who use carrier pigeons, rockets or other signals to con- 
vey news to the enemy.' 

"Then take Weyler's proclamation of February 16, in which he 
decreed that 'all the rural population must be driven within the 
Spanish lines, and that all the goods of country merchants should be 
conveyed to the Spanish garrisons.' In consequence of Weyler's 
barbarous decrees the most harrowing scenes of savagery and bru- 
tality are of almost daily occurrence in this beautiful Island, which is 
situated a hundred miles from our Florida coast line. In the midst 
of these horrifying and terrorizing spectacles Cuba extends her hands 
in supplication to this land of boasted freedom, asking for only a 
kindly glance of friendly recognition. 

Americans cannot be Neutral. 

"Shall we refuse them this small crumb of comfort from our boun- 
teous board ? Spain may have the right to expect American neutral- 
ity, but she has no right to demand indifference on our part to the 
fate of a brave people, whose territory almost touches our own, and 
is nearer to our National capital than are a number of the States of 
the Union, and whose heroic struggle for liberty was largely inspired 
by our glorious example of beneficent free institutions and successful 
self-government. 

" Spanish rule in Cuba has been characterized by injustice, oppres- 
sion, extortion and demoralization. She has fettered the energies of 
the people, while she has fattened upon their industry. She smiled 
but to smite, and embraced but to crush. She has disheartened 
exertion, disqualified merit and destroyed patience and forbearance, 
by supporting in riotous luxury a horde of foreign officials at the ex- 
pense of native industry and frugality. 

"Then the climax of Cuba's wrongs and woes is reached in the 



SIDE-LIGHTS UPON THE STRUGGLE. 211 

advent of the bloody Weyler, who has turned the battle into a 
butchery, made war a double crime by justifying in its name whole- 
sale rapine and murder, and transformed the honest soldier into a 
heartless brigand and a fiendish assassin. 

" Spain has inverted social order, defiled domestic purity, outraged 
civic forms and laid waste the whole Island to satisfy an appetite for 
plunder and spoils that is as cruel as it is insatiable. Irritated into 
resistance, the Cubans are now the intended victims of increased 
injustice. But the inhuman design will fail of accomplishment. 
Cuban patriotism develops with the growth of oppression. The 
aspiration for freedom increases in proportion to the weight of its 
multiplied chains. The dawn of Cuban liberty is rapidly approaching." 

Spanish Soldiers Missing. 

Some idea of the loose manner in which the war is carried on may 
be gained from the statement in official circles at Havana that there 
were 15,000 Spanish soldiers missing somewhere in Cuba. The fact 
was communicated to the Madrid government, and the search for 
their whereabouts went on day and night. They were, perhaps, lost 
only so far as the record was concerned, and might be accounted for 
in time, but such carelessness, or worse, upset official circles in Havana 
to something approaching a state of alarm, for 15,000 men, with 
15,000 rifles and half a million cartridges, is an enormous item in the 
Spanish army. 

The disappearance of the men would ultimately be traced, it was 
said, to one of three causes : Deaths in battle, the real number of 
which was concealed to hide Spanish losses ; details to positions in 
various parts of the Island, of which no record had been kept ; or 
desertions to join the insurgents. Very likely all three causes con- 
tributed to the discrepancy. It is entirely improbable that the whole 
15,000 took "to the woods," although the Spanish records showed 
that entire garrisons joined the insurgents with their arms in every 
province in the Island. 

Possibly the extent of this loss was purposely kept out of the 
records, although there was no reason that, officially, it should not be 



212 SIDE-LIGHTS UPON THE STRUGGLE. 

known to the administration. It was said that Campos stationed 
small bodies of fifty or a hundred men in numerous places, often doing 
so in circumstances which resulted in no official record of the division 
of a detachment being placed in the books at the Palace; but careless- 
ness of that nature on such a grand scale not only seems out of the 
question, but the balance would have been shown as a result of the 
order issued by General Weyler for a report from every commander 
showing the number, position and condition of his force. 

How to Account for It. 

The responses to this increased the confusion, and there were re- 
ports from reliable sources that there were 20,000 men, instead of 
15,000, to be accounted for. The supposition that many losses in 
engagements were not sent in received support from the known falsity 
of those reports, which was repeatedly pointed out. That 700 
Spanish should attack 5,000 insurgents, that a battle lasting seven 
hours should ensue, and that only one Spanish soldier should be 
wounded (as was told in a report from Santa Clara) indicated that the 
Spanish soldiers had charmed lives, or that an enormous amount of 
lying was being done. How far this was carried on in the past can 
be shown by a few figures, and they may account for the present 
difficulty. 

During the ten years' war, a professor of languages in Havana, 
an American of Cuban birth, kept systematically a record of the 
Cuban losses reported in the authorized publications in Havana. He 
made it all in detail, giving the date of each engagement, the locality, 
the number of men on each side, and the Cuban losses in killed, 
wounded, prisoners and horses. At the end of the war his totals 
were as follows: Cuban losses — 395,856 killed, 726,490 wounded, 
451,000 prisoners, and a little over 800,000 horses killed or captured. 
The entire population of the Island was only a million and a quarter 
in the most liberal figures obtainable, or less than the number of 
killed, wounded and prisoners ! 

In curious contrast with this are the Spanish figures of their own 
losses, which follow. To show their real significance we give also 



SIDE-LIGHTS UPON THE STRUGGLE. 213 

the number of men the Spanish army had in the Island during each 

of the years for which the losses are given : 

Losses, Men. 

l86 9 5,504 35,57o 

l8 7° 9,395 47,242 

l8 7* ■ 6,574 55,357 

1872 7,780 58,708 

J873 5,903 52,500 

1874 5,923 62,578 

1875 • 6,361 63,212 

1876 8,482 78,099 

l8 77 17,677 90,245 

1878 7,500 81,700 

Total 81,098 625,211 

Of this number, the official record indicates that only 6,488 died in 
battle or from wounds. In other words, 92 per cent, of the Spanish 
losses were from fever. There never was a time when less than 14 
per cent, of the army was in hospitals, and in 1874 18 per cent, of 
the force ;vas ineffective from sickness. 

Comparing the Losses. 

" A comparison of these losses," says a reliable authority, " with 
the alleged Cuban loss is hardly more interesting than a comparison 
with the Spanish losses in this present war. The conflict has lasted 
just one year. The Spanish losses are now given for the twelve 
months as 3,500, or at the extreme 4,000, killed or mortally wounded. 
The exact figures cannot be available until the present cases in hos- 
pitals have completed their record. This is, at the higher figures, 
only 4 per cent, and a fraction of losses from all causes, out of her 
army of 113,000. The lowest percentage reported in the ten years' 
war was 9! in 1874, and the highest 19 and a fraction in 1876. 
The curious differences here may be disposed of on the basis that 
eighteen years have intervened between the two wars, that the im- 
proved methods of dealing death have been introduced, that hospitals 
are better, and that the deficient arms of the insurgents are to be 
♦aken into consideration. 



214 SIDE-LIGHTS UPON THE STRUGGLE. 

" HowevcA the relative conditions of the two armies more closely 
resemble each other than would at first be supposed, and where they 
do differ they indicate that the record of Spanish losses in this war 
should be greater than reported, and greater proportionately than it 
was in the ten years' war. In both wars the insurgents have man- 
aged to keep themselves armed with practically the same weapons as 
their adversaries have had. Their cry now is that they have not 
enough or they would have an army of 100,000 men in the field. 

" In the ten years' war nothing like the present extent of the revo- 
lution was attained. Gomez was only as far west as Matanzas, 
retreating instantly. To-day the whole Island is in the hands of the 
Cubans, except a few cities. Even Havana is in a state of siege, for 
the first time in 100 years." 

Mainly Due to Volunteers. 

The danger to American citizens, and the brutal outrages outside 
Havana, like the massacre at Guatao, were due chiefly to the volun- 
teers recruited for the Spanish army right in Cuba. The regular 
Spanish soldiers were either officers doing their best, according to their 
ideas, to save their country, or else were recruits who were utterly 
apathetic and were chiefly food for fever and the machete. It was the 
brutish rabble of the dregs of Cuba that resorted to robbery and 
crime of every description — criminals whose only object in joining 
the army was the commission of crime on defenseless people — but 
the Spanish commanders were directly and personally to blame for 
their presence in the Spanish ranks, even Martinez Campos having 
recruited as many of these undesirable wretches as he could get hold 
of Campos kept them under control, in some measure, in connec- 
tion with the regulars ; but Weyler turned them loose in the rural 
districts. 

General Campos admitted that the volunteers only ,vere to be 
feared, and that Americans did not need to concern themselves. At 
that time the danger was comparatively small. General Marin, his 
successor, went so far when Consul-General Williams brought the 
subject to his official notice, after numerous appeals from American 



SIDE-LIGHTS UPON THE STRUGGLE. 215 

residents, as to say : " If it should become necessary I will use the 
regulars to shoot down any volunteers that attempt excesses." 

General Weyler was sending the volunteers out of the city in great 
numbers, but several regiments remained at Havana. They were a 
hot-headed, ignorant, thoughtless mob, compared with the Spanish 
regulars, and were a continual source of trouble to the government. 
The volunteers prepared to send their colonels to Campos to demand 
that he adopt sanguinary methods of warfare, but Campos sent them 
word that any officer approaching him to criticise his generalship 
would be court-martialed. Then it was that the complications pro- 
duced by these volunteers led to Campos' retirement. These volun- 
teers made up the mob which lined the streets the day that Weyler 
arrived, yelling, "Blood to fertilize Cuba. Give us Cepero's head! 
Cepero's head ! Cepero's head ! " Cepero was the American citizen 
who was a prisoner of war in Morro Castle. 

Discussing the Action of Congress. 

Much was said at Havana by the Spaniards concerning the resolu- 
tions of Congress granting rights of belligerents to the Cubans. 
They cordially believed that the American people had a single selfish 
motive — the tearing of Cuba away from Spain. They admitted that 
there was no ground for the charges repeatedly published, that 
" recognition meant friendly assistance to organized bandits commit- 
ting murder, arson and rape." 

They declared that all America had in view was the ultimate 
annexation of Cuba. They acknowledged that the loss would be so 
severe to Spain that she would hazard all her resources ol men and 
money until she could fight no longer to hold her possession. They 
felt that the unjust and obtrusive interference of the United Statef 
should be rebuked by other nations and that altercations would 
occur which might justify Spain in declaring war, although such an 
issue with the United States would not be resorted to until national 
honor was at stake. 

An incident showed the treatment accorded to newspaper corres- 
pondents by General Weyler. Two of these were arrested, but were 



216 SIDE-LIGHTS UPON THE STRUGGLE. 

subsequently discharged. Their names were Michaelson and Betan- 
court. 

Their release was only provisional, pending the result of the inves- 
tigation on the charge that they were at Guatao on the fatal day of 
the massacre and brought the news to Havana. The only evidence 
against them was the report that two American correspondents had 
managed to get to the scene of the massacre. Michaelson and 
Betancourt had been at Marianao, half way to Guatao, where the 
railroad ends. Marques de Cervera received a call from them. When 
he was requested that night, in a message from Havana, to furnish 
information as to who had been permitted to go to Guatao, he 
naturally suspected, having knowledge of no one else going that way, 
that Michaelson and Betancourt had eluded his vigilance and passed 
along- xhat road. There was no other evidence in the matter. 

At 2 o'clock in the morning guards of soldiers invaded the room 
of each man — Michaelson's at the hotel and Betancourt's at his home. 
They made a thorough search in each case, looking through every- 
thing, examining every scrap of paper, peering into bureau drawers, 
clothes-closets and everything. This process lasted two hours, so 
thorough and exhaustive was it, and they found absolutely nothing 
to sustain the position of the authorities. Nevertheless, they removed 
both men to police headquarters, where they were kept until 6 A. m., 
when they were taken in row boats across the bay to Morro Castle. 

There they were placed in solitary confinement in stone dungeons, 
with no cots, no chairs, no blankets, not a thing, indeed, to relieve 
their condition. Mr. Murat Halstead and Consul-General Williams 
hastened to General Weyler to protest against this high-handed out- 
rage ; but they were unable to see the autocrat until 5 p. m., because 
he was out calling and did not choose to have his social engage- 
ments interfered with by anything so trivial as duty or so absurd as 
humanity. 

When these two gentlemen were finally successful in getting an 
audience with Weyler, he informed them that the offence charged to 
the prisoners — which was that of telling the truth — was very grave, 
indeed, and that it would take three days at least to investigate it. 



SIDE-LIGHTS UPON THE STRUGGLE. 217 

At the end of two days they were released. They had received 
blankets and hammocks only just before their departure from Morro 
Castle, and too late to do them any good in their stone dungeons. 
No liquor or tobacco or anything else was sent to them dhring their 
incarceration, except some food, and that but little. 

Gen. Weyler had been encouraged by the course of events after 
his arrival, and cabled to his home government to that effect. The 
progress of Gomez and Maceo back into Matanzas and toward Santa 
Clara was interpreted as a retreat from the neighborhood of Havana. 
That it was not a retreat, but rather an indication that they were 
conducting a new campaign, which the Spanish are unable to check, 
is shown by their movements. 

The Two Generals Separate. 
After the burning of Jaruco, the announcement was made that the 
Spanish columns, under Gens. Linares, Prat, Aldeco, Col. Hernandez 
and others, had the insurgents hemmed in ; that they were in front 
of them to prevent their going back into Matanzas, and that behind 
them were all the forces at Havana and along the trocha. Maceo 
and Gomez separated at once, Maceo taking a northern course, and 
Gomez paralleling his march about twenty miles southward, and then 
they moved eastward simultaneously. 

They burned and destroyed every obstruction to their progress, 
tearing up the railroads to prevent the transportation of the Spanish 
troops, and fighting at Catalina, Candela Hills, San Nicholas, Roque, 
Limonar, Tosca and the Guamacaro Hills, but nothing stopped the 
progress of either. Every battle was reported as a Spanish victory, 
in which the enemy were routed or dispersed or driven back ; but 
the mere fact that the Spanish columns were still in front and re- 
porting encounters daily, and that Gomez and Maceo were moving 
irresistibly forward into the great sugar district, revealed the true 
state of affairs. 

Their purpose in going there was disclosed by two things. Gen. 
Weyler, upon getting them surrounded in Havana province after 
Maceo crossed the trocha issued orders to the planters of Matanzas 



218 SIDE-LIGHTS UPON THE STRUGGLE. 

and Santa Clara to begin grinding cane. Gomez's proclamation for- 
bade their doing so, and they had stopped to save their estates from 
being burned. Gen. Weyler gave notice that by March 15 the Island 
would be so cleared up that they would be safe to proceed, but in 
order to profit by the thirty days which would intervene between his 
order and that date, he requested work to be begun at once, sup- 
posing he could hold Gomez and Maceo where they were and give 
the planters protection in the meantime. 

Quintin Bandera started at once with 2,000 cavalry from Sancfi 
Spiritus, and, hurrying by thirty miles a day marches, he swept into 
the sugar district to the assistance of the already large forces of 
insurgents there, and, encouraging them as well as reinforcing their 
numbers, he hurried on to facilitate the progress of Gomez and 
Maceo. On the 21st he met Gomez's forces near Najasa, for the 
latter had advanced more rapidly than even the insurgents anticipated, 
and was well into the centre of the province of Matanzas. Maceo 
had gotten even farther, and was northeast of Gomez's position, one 
of his detachments entering Cardenas, the seaport east of Matanzas, 
two days later. 

Sugar Industry Prevented. 

Bandera's command separated at once and came into Havana pro- 
vince. Four days later he camped, 2,000 strong, at the estate Ben- 
igno, Garcia Aguiar, in the district of Palma, near Sabanilla. He 
moved about in the same locality that Gomez occupied during 
Maceo's absence to conduct the campaign in Pinar del Rio, where he 
waited for Maceo, and from which place he went across the trocha to 
Maceo's assistance in clearing the way for the return of the latter's 
army. 

The burning of cane was resumed. Wherever an effort was made 
to grind, the insurgents destroyed the estates. The planters were in 
a lamentable situation. If they attempted to grind, they were faced 
first by the absence of labor. It had gone to the woods, or fled to 
Havana. If they sent cutters into the fields or started fires under 
their boilers, the fire-brand was at hand. If they did not make any 



SIDE-LIGHTS UPON THE STRUGGLE. 219 

attempt they would be " considered sympathizers with the insurgents 
and the enemies of Spain " — with all the penalties. After everything 
else, if they did grind, by paying the Cuban republic for the privilege 
the railroads were destroyed, and not a pound of their product could 
be transported out of the country. 

Early in March Captain-General Weyler issued the following pro- 
clamation : 

" I have promulgated an order that the teachers of divinity of the 
Provinces of Matanzas, Santa Clara, Puerto Principe and Santiago de 
Cuba, who, confessedly, have taken part in the movements of the in- 
surgents, shall be pardoned on making their submission, surrendering 
their arms, and placing themselves under the surveillance of the law- 
ful authority, provided they have not committed other crimes since 
the issuance of my last proclamation. It will be a commendable 
circumstance that these submissions may be made by bodies of those 
affected. 

Strict Regulations. 

" The teachers of divinity who, without arms, shall come in under 
the same circumstances, will be immediately transferred to the 
encampments, forts, towns, and, in general, where they may be under 
the immediate vigilance of the troops, and all the teachers shall be 
under the control of the commandants in whatever jurisdiction they 
may be assigned. 

" A record of those so attached to each column, encampment or fort 
vill be kept, and their superiors will make a report every fifteen days 
concerning the conduct of the teachers, and will determine the time 
at which they will be permitted to reside in whatever place it may be 
deemed advisable to conduct them, placing them under the supervi- 
sion of the local authorities or making any other disposition of them 
which may be considered proper. 

" In the meantime they will become permanently attached to the 
military forces, and will give their attentions to the dying, and will be 
entitled to such rations as troops in the field or traveling. These 
directions will not go into effect in the provinces of Pinardel Rio and 
Havana until these Provinces have extended to them the prevailing 



220 SIDE-LIGHTS UPON THE STRUGGLE. 

law in the case of those who deliver themselves up to the authori' 
ties. Weyler." 

"Havana, March $, 1896." 

Another proclamation was as follows : 

" I make known to our harassed troops and to those who attempt 
to demoralize them as they pursue eastward insurgent parties more 
numerous than those whom they leave in the Provinces of Pinar del 
Rio and Havana, that the time has arrived to pursue, with the greatest 
activity and rigor, the little bands, more of outlaws than insurgents, 
who have remained in the said provinces, and to adopt whatever 
measures are necessary for the proper and immediate carrying out of 
that intention. I hereby order : 

Disposition of Troops. 

" First — That the troops be divided into columns to operate in 
both provinces, and that the ' Guardis Civil ' be re-established on the 
lines of that now existing in Pinar del Rio and in a part of Puerto 
Principe, and that in Havana and a part of the Province of Santiago 
de Cuba, and that they occupy only the places remote from the pres- 
ent pacified or tranquillized districts until they are able to occupy the 
positions which they held before (in the districts row in revolt). 

"Second — The commander of each zone, or the corresponding 
official who may be otherwise characterized in each place, shall be 
the commander of the native army, and shall have municipal 
powers, but in a less degree than those he exercises in the same 
position with any garrison force of the army. In this case the 
command of the native armies will devolve in accordance with 
seniority of services. 

" Three — Each community seeking to do so and applying to the 
general staff of the army may arm a section of volunteers or guerril- 
las of thirty men, equipped as infantry soldiers, which force will de- 
fend the country and operate under orders of the military authorities 
of the locality. Each section may be commanded by retired officers, 
or deputed officials, or by persons of satisfactory qualifications 



SIDE-LIGHTS UPON THE STRUGGLE. 221 

and antecedents, obtaining the pay of those holding second com- 
mand of infantry, the appointment of the officials of these sections to 
be approved by the Captain-General. 

" Fourth — Those who are in possession of arms must be placed in 
a state of complete defense and enabled to avoid a surprise. 

" Fifth — The military governors of Havana and Pinar del Rio win 
present reports to the Captain- General for the guidance of the com- 
mander-in-chief of the Third Army Corps, and will send to the 
Governor-General proposals for the nominations of Mayors or Magis- 
trates in the places where Guardis Civil exist, or, if they deem it 
expedient to expel those officials, retired persons or authorized per- 
sons who possess the necessary qualifications. 

They Must Surrender. 

" Sixth — The authorities of the villages who will show themselves 
friendly within a term of ten days, and those of the vicinity of the same, 
and all those within its limits that are engaged in the insurrection, are 
warned to surrender themselves within the space of fifteen days from 
the publication of this proclamation, otherwise they will be subject 
to arrest ; and well-disposed persons will be set to their civil respon- 
sibilities, and, to effect this, it will be proposed to the Governor-Gen- 
eral to nominate a body which will see to carrying this out. 

" Seventh — If, in the case of insurgent parties who have robbed, 
sacked, burned, or committed other outrages during the rebellion, 
any one will give information as to the participation that such per- 
sons may have had in them, not only those who may have been in 
the rebel ranks, but also those who have succeeded them, or who 
have not remained in their homes, they will be fittingly punished ; 
and, moreover, if any town or other places where robberies have 
been effected is known to them, they will be required to make iden- 
tification that proper responsibility may be fixed. 

" Eighth — Rebels who may not be responsible for any other crime, 
who within the term of fifteen days present themselves to the nearest 
military authority in both provinces, and who will assist in the apprehen- 
sion of any one guilty of the foregoing offences, will not be molested, 



222 SIDE-LIGHTS UPON THE STRUGGLE. 

but will be placed at my disposal. Those who have presented them- 
selves at any earlier time will be pardoned ; those who may have 
committed any other crimes or who obstructed any public cargo 
proceeding to its destination, will be judged according to the antece- 
dents, and their case will be withheld for final determination. He 
who presents himself and surrenders arms, and, in a greater degree, 
if there is a collective presentation, will have his case determined by 
me. All who present themselves after the time mentioned in this 
warning will be placed at my disposal. 

" Ninth — All the authorities or civil functionaries of whatsoever 
kind who do not hold a license for attendance upon the sick and who 
are not found at their posts after the end of eight days in both prov- 
inces will be named to the Governor-General as ceasing to act for 
the local authorities. 

" Tenth — The planters, manufacturers and other persons who, 
within the territory of the provinces warned shall periodically facili- 
tate or even for a single time shall give money of any kind soever to 
the insurgents, save and except in the case of their being obliged to 
yield to superior force — a circumstance which will have to be ex- 
amined in a most searching manner — will be regarded as disloyal 
through helping the rebellion. 

" Eleventh — For the repair of roads, railways, telegraphs, etc., the 
personal co-operation of the inhabitants of the villages will be re- 
quired, and in the case of the destruction of any kind of property, 
the occupants of convenient habitations will be held responsible if 
they do not immediately inform the nearest authority of such occur- 
rences. Valeriano Weyler." 

One of the incidents of the struggle was General Antonio Maceo's 
arraignment of General Weyler, soon after the latter arrived in Cuba. 
General Maceo wrote as follows : 

" Republic of Cuba, Invading Army, 

" Second Corps, Cayajabos, Feb. 27, 1896, 
M General Valeriano Weyler, Havana : 

" In spite of all that the press has published in regard to you I 



SIDE-LIGHTS UPON THE STRUGGLE. 223 

have never been willing to give it belief and to base my judgment of 
your conduct on its statements ; such an accumulation of atrocities, 
so many crimes repugnant and dishonoring to any man of honor, I 
thought it impossible for a soldier holding your high rank to commit. 
" The accusations seemed to me rather to be made in bad faith, or to 
be the utterances of personal enmity, and I expected that you would 
take care to give the lie in due form to your detractors, rising to the 
height required of gentlemen, and saving yourself from any imputa- 
tion of that kind, by merely adopting in the treatment of the 
wounded and of prisoners of war the generous course that has been 
pursued from the beginning by the revolutionists toward the Spanish 
wounded and prisoners. 

Appeal Against Spanish Infamy. 

" But, unfortunately, Spanish dominion must always be accompanied 
by infamy, and although the errors and wrongful acts of the last war 
seemed to be corrected at the beginning of this one, to-day it has 
become manifest that it was only by closing our eyes to invariable 
personal antecedents and incorrigible traditional arbitrariness that we 
could have imagined Spain would forget forever her fatal character- 
istic of ferocity toward the defenseless and assassination in security. 
For really it is difficult to believe everything we see in life, however 
absurd it may seem. 

"But we cannot help believing evidence. In my march during the 
period of this campaign I see with alarm, with horror, how the 
wretched reputation you enjoy is confirmed, and how the deeds that 
disclose your barbarous irritation are repeated. What! must even 
the peaceful inhabitants (I say nothing of the wounded and prisoners 
of war), must they be sacrificed to the rage that gave the Duke o' 
Alva his name and fame ? 

" Is it thus that Spain, through you, returns the clemency and 
kindness with which we, the redeemers of this suffering people, have 
acted in like circumstances? What a reproach for yourself and for 
Spain ! The license to burn the huts, assassinations like those at 
Nueva Paz and the villa El Gato, committed by Spanish columns, in 



224 SIDE-LIGHTS UPON THE STRUGGLE. 

particular those of Colonels Molina and Vicuna, proclaim you guilty 
before all humankind; your name will be forever infamous, here and 
far from here remembered with disgust and horror ! 

" Out of humanity, yielding to the honorable and generous im- 
pulses which are identified with both the spirit and the tendency of 
the revolution, I shall never use reprisals that would be unworthy 
of the reputation and the power of the liberating army of Cuba. But 
I nevertheless foresee that such abominable conduct on your part and 
on that of your men will arouse at no distant time private vengeances 
to which they will fall victims, without my being able to prevent it, 
even though I should punish hundreds of innocent persons. 

" For this last reason, since war should only touch combatants and 
it is inhuman to make others suffer from its consequences, I invite 
you to retrace your steps, if you admit your guilt, or to repress these 
crimes with a heavy hand if they were committed without your con- 
sent. At all events, take care that no drop of blood be shed outside 
the battlefield ; be merciful to the many unfortunate peaceful citizens. 
In so doing you will imitate in honorable emulation our conduct and 
our proceedings. Yours, 

A. Maceo." 

This appeal is valuable as showing the grievances of the insurgents, 
as well as their commander's bold and telling way of stating them. 

An interview with General Weyler by a lady correspondent in 
Cuba will be of interest. She writes under date of March 13th : 

His Excellency, Captain-General Weyler, graciously gave me an 
audience to-day. He received me with most charming courtesy; 
escorted me through his apartments and presented me with a bunch 
of roses from his own table. Before I left he had honored me with 
an invitation to dine with him at the Palace. 

" Your Excellency," I said to him through my interpreter, " the 
American women have a very bad opinion of you. I am very much 
afraid of you myself, but I have come to ask the honor of an inter- 
view with you, in order that I may write something which will reas- 
sure the women of America that you are not treating women and 
children unmercifully." 



SIDE-LIGHTS UPON THE STRUGGLE. 225 

" I do not give interviews," he said. " I am willing, however, to^ 
answer any question you wish to ask." 

" In the United States," I said, " an impression prevails that your 
| edict shutting out newspaper correspondents from the field is only 
| to conceal cruelties perpetrated upon the insurgent prisoners. Will 
your Excellency tell me the real cause?" 

" I have," replied the General, " shut out the Spanish and Cuban 
papers from the field, as well as the American. In the last war the 
correspondents created much jealousy by what they wrote. They 
praised one and rebuked the other. They wrote what their prisoners 
dictated instead of facts. They even created ill-feeling between the 
Spanish officers. They are a nuisance." 

" Then I can deny the stories that have been published as to your 
being cruel ? " 

The General shrugged his heavy shoulders as he said carelessly: 
" I have no time to pay attention to stories. Some of them are true, 
and some are not. If you will particularize I will give direct 
answers, but these things are not important." 

" Does not your Excellency think that prisoners of war should be 
treated with consideration and mercy ? " 

The General's eyes glinted dangerously. " The Spanish columns 
attend to their prisoners just as well as any other country in time of 
war," he replied. " War is war. You cannot make it otherwise, try 
as you will." 

" Will not your Excellency allow me to go to the scene of battle 
under an escort of soldiers, if necessary, that I may write of the 
situation as it really is, and correct the impression that prevails in 
America that inhuman treatment is being accorded the insurgent 
prisoners ? " 

" Impossible," answered the General. " It would not be safe." 

u I am willing to take all the danger, if your Excellency will allow 
rne to go," I exclaimed. 

General Weyler laughed. " There would be no danger from the 
rebels," he said, "but from the Spanish soldiers. They are of a very 
affectionate disposition and would all fall in love with you." 
15 



226 SIDE-LIGHTS UPON THE STRUGGLE. 

" I will keep a great distance from the righting if you will allow 
me to go." 

The General's lips closed tightly, and he said : " Impossible ! Im- 
possible ! " 

" What would happen," I asked, " if I should be discovered cross- 
ing the lines without permission ? " 

" You would be treated just the same as a man." 

" Would I be sent to Castle Morro ? " 

" Yes," he replied, nodding his head vigorously. That settled it. 
I decided not to go. 

" W T hy," I asked him, " is the rule ' incommunicado ' placed upon 
prisoners ? Is it not cruel to prevent a man from seeing his wife and 
children ? " 

" The rule ' incommunicado,' " said the General, " is a military 
law. Prisoners are allowed to see their relatives as a favor, but we 
exercise discretion in these cases." 

" There are stories that prisoners are shot in Morro Castle at day- 
break each morning, and that the shots can be plainly heard across 
the bay. Is this true ? " 

The General's eyes looked unpleasant again. " It is false ! " he 
said, shortly. " The prisoners go through a regular court-martial, 
and no one could be shot at Morro without my orders, and I have not 
given orders to shoot any one since I have been here." 

" Do you not think it very cruel that innocent women and children 
should be made to suffer in time of war ? " 

" No innocent women and children do suffer. It is only those who 
leave their homes and take part in battles who are injured. It is only 
the rebels who destroy peaceful homes." 

" It is reported," I said, " that thirty women are fighting under 
Maceo. Is this true ? " 

" Yes," replied the General. " We took one woman yesterday 
She was dressed in man's clothes and was wielding a machete. She 
is now in Morro Castle. These women are fiercer than the mew 
Many of them are mulattoes. This particular woman was white " 

" What will be her fate ?" 



SIDE-LIGHTS UPON THE STRUGGLE. 227 

" She will go through the regular form of trial." 

" Will no mercy be shown her ? " 

" Mercy is always shown to a woman. While the law is the same 
for both sexes there is a clause which admits of mercy to a woman." 

" There are several Cuban women insurgents in Morro and the 
Cabanas. Would your Excellency," I asked, " allow me to visit 
them ? " 

A Rigid Military Law. 

" No," he said. " There is a law that no foreigner shall enter oui 
fortresses. It is a military law. We can make no exceptions. You 
understand that I do not wish to be discourteous, senorita." 

" Some of these women," I continued, " are said to be imprisoned 
for merely having Cuban flags in their homes. Is this possible ? " 

" Treason," exclaimed the General, " is always a crime, punishable 
by imprisonment." 

" There is a newspaper correspondent at present in Morro. What 
was his crime ? " 

The General shrugged his shoulders again. " I know nothing 
about him," he said. " I think he has been freed." 

" Do you not think that the life of a newspaper correspondent in 
Havana is at present a most unhappy one ? " 

" I think it must be, for they make me unhappy. If they were all 
like you it would be a pleasure." 

" Is it true that thumbscrews are used to extort confessions from 
prisoners ? " 

"Not by the Spaniards. Rebels use all these things, similar to 
those that were used in the Inquisition tortures." 

" What does your Excellency think of the Cubans as a race ? Do 
you not think them progressive and brave ? " 

" With the progress of all nations the Cubans have progressed," 
he replied. " There are many Cubans in sympathy with Spain, but 
this insurrection is a blot upon the Cuban race which nothing can 
ever erase. It is a stain made with the blood of the slain and the 
tears of the women. It injures the Cubans themselves more than 
any other." 



228 SIDE-LIGHTS UPON THE STRUGGLE. 

In the latter part of March Cuban circles in this country were 
elated over the successful landing in Cuba of the expedition sent out 
by the steamship " Bermuda." After her departure there was great 
anxiety among the Cuban sympathizers, and news of her safe land- 
ing afforded corresponding satisfaction. 

Rafael Portuondo, Secretary of State of the insurgent Republic, 
said : " The successful landing of General Garcia and the ' Bermuda's' 
cargo of arms and ammunition is of greater moment to us than the 
outside world can imagine. We have hoped so long in vain for the 
administration of the United States to recognize our belligerency, 
that we have almost abandoned the idea of ever benefiting by the 
improved moral and international standing which such an act would 
give us in the eyes of other nations. We see now that we can expect 
but little aid from any one else ; that we must carve our destiny with 
the Cuban sword — the machete. 

" Diplomacy so far has availed us nothing. We have got to fight 
our way to freedom, and General Garcia is a fighter. He has faced 
death many times. He is feared by his enemies and loved by his 
friends. He will be a power in Cuba, and his safe arrival on the 
Island will be an important step toward securing her freedom. He 
will take immediate command of the department of the Oriente, 
which includes the provinces of Camaguey and Santiago de Cuba." 

After Garcia's escape from Madrid in the fall of 1895, and his sub- 
sequent arrival in New York, every effort was made to enable him to 
reach Cuba with a respectable expedition. The failure of those 
efforts in the sinking of the " Hawkins " and the detention of the. 
" Bermuda" are well known. Secretary Olney's order to release thef 
" Bermuda " and arms seized on the " Stranahan " encouraged the 
Cuban officials in this country to make another attempt to leave the 
port, which was done in broad daylight. 

On Sunday morning, March 15th, the " Bermuda " steamed out of 
New York harbor. She carried four rapid-fire Hotchkiss cannon, 
one twenty-pounder and one ten-pounder. These were by far the 
largest guns yet used by the insurgents. 

Early in April was the time for holding elections in Cuba, and it 



SIDE-LIGHTS UPON THE STRUGGLE. 229 

was claimed that Spain would receive a strong support. Despite the 
threats of the captain-general, the Autonomist party remained firm, 
and refused to take any active share in the elections. They intended, 
indeed, to vote for two Senators, one for the University and the other 
for Los Amigos del Pais, but here their efforts were to cease. 

It was a serious predicament for General Weyler. He pledged his 
reputation on his ability to drive voters to the polls, hoping by that 
act to prove to the government in Madrid that affairs were not in such 
a really desperate condition. Cuba had never been officially declared 
to be in a state of war. It was admitted that serious disturbances 
existed; but, then, are not misfortunes liable to occur in the best 
regulated households ? Have not the United States had riots in 
Pittsburg and Chicago, and had not England to contend against the 
Irish Land League? 

And yet one is tempted to ask why people who arrived on board 
the steamers were subjected to a rigorous inquisition. Every Wed- 
nesday and Saturday, when the Tampa boat reached Havana, the 
passengers were compelled to go to the Hotel Mascotte, near the 
quay, and were there thoroughly searched. 

Outside of the city, too, the country had not the appearance which 
we are accustomed to see in times of ordinary tranquillity. A trip 
from Havana to Batabano, on the south coast, was exactly like jour- 
neying through a desert. At intervals of a couple of miles small 
forts are constructed along the line, each with its garrison of twenty 
or thirty soldiers, but, with these exceptions, no trace of human ex- 
istence was to be seen. A lonely and abandoned country stretched 
away on each side. 

Here and there a small green patch of sugar cane had escaped the 
general conflagration, but for the most part the eye rested only upon 
blackened stalks, over which the tall, slender palm trees waved like 
sorrowing mourners. Station buildings were heaps of crumbling 
ruins, where, amid the general wreck, temporary fortifications of stone 
and metal rails had been hastily put together, though for what pur- 
pose it was hard to imagine. 

Every little village was occupied by troops, sentries were stationed 



230 SIDE-LIGHTS UPON THE STRUGGLE. 

upon every church, whose walls had been pierced for muskets, and 
round which deep trenches had been dug as an additional means of 
defence. These sacred edifices represented the citadel of the position, 
and, filled as they were with men who had signalized themselves by 
robbery and crime, one was forcibly reminded of the words which 
say : " You have made my house a den of thieves/' 

Batabano itself was half destroyed. In the recent attack the town 
hall and all the rest of the public buildings were burned, and yet there 
were ample accommodations for the few families who lingered on. 

The port, called Surgidero, is about three miles distant. It is an 
important place, as it is the point of embarkation for Cienfuegos and 
Santiago de Cuba. So far it had escaped the insurgents, but there 
was a band lurking in the jungle close at hand who made constant 
demonstrations during the night, and kept the military authorities 
busy. 

Embankments and Breastworks. 

The precautions which were adopted for defence are interesting. 
A narrow, shallow trench was excavated for nearly a mile and a half 
outside the little seaport to protect it on the land side. Behind this 
trench the earth was thrown up into a low embankment, strengthened 
with a wattle breastwork, and guarded along the entire line by no 
fewer than twelve forts. A gunboat was close in shore, and as a 
guide to direct her fire, lanterns on high posts were set close together 
a few paces beyond the trench. She had a good deal of practice, for 
one of the inhabitants said that he counted thirty-seven shells which 
she discharged one night. Like Mr. Winkle's shot, however, they 
proved to be merely homeless wanderers, finding, contrary to thfl 
proverb, no billet anywhere. 

At the railway station, the platform was crowded with people. 
They were emigrants, flying with their families and household goods 
from the terror which reigned throughout the land. But it was not 
a fear of the insurgents which compelled them to leave their homes. 
The Spanish army was the cause. The alcalde of Jovellanos, in Ma 
tanzas province, said that there was no safety for any one outside of 
the large cities. 



SIDE-LIGHTS UPON THE STRUGGLE. 231 

This man was a Spaniard and a loyal subject. He officiated as 
Mayor of Jovellanos for two years, and was prosperous and respected. 
After soldiers were quartered in the town, he said, life had become 
unbearable. They plundered his store, notwithstanding his position 
as Chief Magistrate, and robbed the inhabitants at will. A Spanish 
guerrilla force, under the command of Lieutenant Salvador Paula, saw 
ten laborers working in a field in the outskirts of Jovellanos. When 
challenged these men replied : " Viva Espafia ! " Yet they were im- 
mediately fired upon, though fortunately without any evil result to 
them. They were wise enough to fling themselves upon the ground, 
while an unfortunate Chinaman, who was feeding his horse close by, 
received a bullet in the leg. This poor creature limped up and 
showed the wound to Lieutenant Paula, who thereupon exclaimed : 
" O, you complain, do you? I will soon prevent your telling tales!" 
drew his machete and with one stroke cut off the Chinaman's head. 
This episode undoubtedly saved the workmen's lives. 

Still Another Atrocity. 

The guerrilleros, having gratified their taste for blood, departed, yet 
though the case, the Alcalde said, was reported to the commandant, 
General Prat, Paula and his gang were left unpunished. 

Another atrocity was that of Colonel Vicuna, who, when marching 
with his column to the town, met three unarmed men upon the road. 
They were instantly arrested, and though there were no grounds for 
supposing them to be insurgents, Colonel Vicuna ordered them to be 
shot, a command which was carried out on the spot. Three days 
afterward the Alcalde read in the official reports in the newspapers 
that this very column had had an engagement with the insurgents 
near Jovellanos, and had killed three. The battle referred to was 
tin's cruel execution of inoffensive civilians. 

Of a truth these official reports were merely useful as a record of 
what did not occur. No reliance can be placed in a single state- 
ment, unless it be the simple fact that something took place in a cer- 
tain locality, while the circumstantial story and the result were 
complete fabrications. An account was given of an encounter near 



232 SIDE-LIGHTS UPON THE STRUGGLE. 

Cardenas, where the Spaniards had one dead and four wounded. It 
was found subsequently that their losses amounted to sixty-two, of 
which no fewer than twenty-five had been killed. 

In like manner the true account of the assault on Santa Clara is 
very different from that supplied from the Palace for publication. In 
a letter from an eye-witness of the whole affair, we find that the 
Cubans met with scarcely any opposition, and that General Bazan, so 
far from having ridden with his staff through the rain of bullets, 
sought refuge in the theatre until the enemy had retired. The 
insurgents patrolled the town all night long, and procured without 
difficulty the supplies which they required. 



CHAPTER XIX. 
The United States to the Rescue. 

ON the 10th of April, 1896, our State Department at Washing- 
ton sent to Madrid an important official despatch hearing on 
Cuban affairs. It was signed by Secretary Olney, and ad- 
dressed to Minister Taylor. In it was laid down the attitude of the 
Administration on the Cuban question. The despatch was a len^hy 
one. Its four principal points were : 

First. The President proposed that Spain accept mediation on the 
part of the United States, looking to a settlement of existing differ- 
ences between the Spanish Government and the Cubans. 

Second. It referred to the correspondence between the State De- 
partment and the Madrid authorities in 1870, in which Spain promised 
to inaugurate governmental reforms in Cuba, which promises, it was 
said, have not been fulfilled. 

Third. That the present rebellion in Cuba is more serious and 
widespread than any which have arisen in recent years, and that the 
insurgents controlled practically all of Cuba except Havana and the 
near neighborhood. 

Fourth. It assured Spain of the kindliest motives on the part of 
the United States in seeking to bring about a pacific condition of 
affairs in Cuba, and urged that the good offices of this country be 
accepted in the spirit proffered. 

After the passage in the House of the Cuban resolutions the Presi- 
dent and Secretary Olney were frequently in consultation in relation 
to the general affairs in Cuba and the wisest course for the United 
States to pursue in the matter. Few, if any, of the many friends of 
Cuba in Congress expected that the President would take steps in 
harmony with the provisions of the resolutions. The President 
decided that the question of recognizing a state of belligerency in 

233 



234 UNITED STATES TO THE RESCUE. 

the Island was not seriously to be considered. In reaching this 
decision he followed the advice of Secretary Olney, which was based 
on the precedent established by President Grant in his first adminis- 
tration, upon the earnest recommendations of Secretary Fish. 

Our Government Offers to Mediate. 

It having been determined not to recognize belligerency in the 
Island, the point to be decided was what, if any, steps should be 
taken in the matter. The President and the Secretary of State 
agreed that some measures were necessary. As a result of several 
important conferences, the President finally concluded that mediation 
on the part of the United States should be suggested to Spain. 

As far as known the President did not discuss the proposed course 
with any other member of the Cabinet than Mr. Olney. In interna- 
tional affairs it was the exception when he asked for the views of any 
other Cabinet Minister. In the case of Cuba he did not depart from 
his rule, but drew up not only the outline of Mr. Olney 's note to 
Minister Taylor, but suggested many of the paragraphs, and some of 
the sentences. 

The President viewed the condition of affairs in Cuba as deserving 
of serious consideration. He recognized that conditions existed 
which were most unfortunate, and which were injurious not only to 
Spain, but to the vast commerce between the United States and 
Cuba. He realized, however, that Spain and this country are on 
terms of amity, and thought that vigorous proceedings on the part of 
the United States would result in the object aimed at being lost. 
This might mean a rupture of the friendly relations between Spain 
and the United States. The President was opposed to the adoption 
of any such course. 

He looked upon the recognizing of a state of belligerency in Cuba 
as unwise and unjustifiable under the circumstances, and as certain to 
irritate the Spanish people. For the present, at least, he was of the 
opinion that the best course was to propose the good offices of this 
Government, looking to a settlement of the serious differences 
between Spain and the Cuban insurgents. 



UNITED STATES TO THE RESCUE. 235 

Secretary Olney's letter to Minister Taylor was written in the 
most careful,, cautious manner. In referring to the proposition that 
Spain accept mediation on the part of the United States, he said that 
the attitude of this country in the matter is a friendly one, and that 
the United States could have no other object, as Spain must know, 
than to bring about a more satisfactory condition of affairs in Cuba. 
He complimented Spain to the extent of intimating that she is too 
great a Power to fear to do what is right, and that if the claims of the 
Cuban insurgents as to Spanish wrongs were based on fact, it was 
the duty of the Madrid Government to inaugurate a more just, leni 
ent and humane policy toward Cuba. 

Trying to Restore Order. 

Such a course, it was pointed out, would tend to bring about quiet 
and restore order in the Island, and modify the growing impression 
throughout the world that many of the alleged evils in Cuba are the 
result of harsh treatment or the maladministration of the Colonial 
Government. As one reason for suggesting mediation in the case, 
Minister Taylor was informed that many of the citizens in this coun- 
try interested in estates in Cuba, or in the commerce with the Island, 
were suffering on account of the rebellion. This fact and others, 
which the Secretary set forth, were, in his opinion, a sufficient justifi- 
cation for proposing to Spain that she accept the good offices of the 
United States looking to a settlement of differences between the 
mother country and her Island Colony 

The Secretary of State referred to the correspondence between the 
State Department and the Madrid Government in the first adminis- 
tration of President Grant, when Secretary Fish, by direction of the 
President, proposed that the United States should act as mediator be- 
tween Spain and the insurgents. Spain then politely declined the 
good offices of this country, but intimated that the time might come 
when they would be acceptable to her. She promised, however, that 
a number of important governmental reforms should be instituted in 
Cuba, among others that the taxes in the Island should be equitably 
levied, that no unjust discrimination should be made against native 



236 UNITED STATES TO THE RESCUE. 

Cubans in the matter of holding offices, that the security of persons 
and property should be maintained, that the judiciary should be 
separated from the military authorities, and that greater freedom of 
speech, press and religion would be inaugurated. In those days 
slavery existed in Cuba, and partly at the instance of the United 
States, the Spanish Government passed a law of emancipation. 

Spain's Promises Broken. 

A number of other important reforms have not been brought 
about, however, and the Secretary pointed out that representatives of 
the insurgents in Washington contended that there was no probability 
of changes in law and custom being made. In a communication 
to the State Department, T. Estrada Palma, representing the in- 
surgent party, stated that the causes of the revolution in the 
Island were substantially the same as those of the former revolution, 
lasting from 1868 to 1878, and terminating only on the representa- 
tion of the Spanish Government that Cuba would be granted such 
reforms as would remove the ground of complaint on the part of the 
Cuban people. 

Unfortunately, Mr. Palma said, the hopes thus held out have never 
been realized. The representation which was to be given Cubans 
proved to be absolutely without character. Taxes were levied anew 
on everything conceivable; the offices in the Island increased, but 
the officers were all Spaniards ; the native Cubans had been left with 
no public duties whatsoever to perform except the payment of taxes 
to the Government, without privilege even to move from place to 
place in the Island, except on the permission of governmental 
authority. 

Mr. Palma also complained that Spain had framed laws so that the 
natives had substantially been deprived of the right of suffrage. 
There was appropriated only $746,000 for internal improvements out 
of the $26,000,000 collected by taxes. Mr. Olney pointed out that 
if even part of the injustice and harshness alleged by the insurgents 
existed in Cuba, important reforms would appear to be demanded 
under the circumstances. 



UNITED STATES TO THE RESCUE. 237 

Secretary Olney informed Minister Taylor that from advices re- 
ceived from Cuba it was made clear that the revolution in the Island 
was more widespread than the ten years' revolution, and that the 
insurgents were reported to be masters of the situation, except in and 
near Havana. These conditions, in the opinion of the Secretary, 
went to show the extent of the insurrectionary movement, and the 
large number of persons engaged in it, and the effect was a serious 
blow to business throughout the Island, and operated necessarily 
greatly to the disadvantage of the commerce of the United States. 

Much more was said in this connection in the despatch to Minister 
Taylor, but the drift of the statement was that the revolution had 
made greater headway than any preceding revolution in Cuba, and 
that the conditions were cause for grave concern on the part of the 
United States. Mr. Olney intimated that if the insurgents had not 
been successful in overcoming the Spanish forces and getting charge 
of the Island, it was equally true that Spain had not put down the 
rebellion. 

A Friendly Proposition. 

The Secretary concluded his lengthy despatch by directing Minis 
ter Taylor to assure Spain of the friendliness of this country in pro- 
posing mediation. His argument throughout was a strong one. 
Minister Taylor was instructed to lay the President's proposition 
before the Spanish Foreign Secretary at an early date, and to com- 
municate the reply of the Madrid Government promptly upon re- 
ceiving it. 

What the feeling was at Madrid is clearly shown by the statement 
of a journalist, under date of April 16 : 

" As I am about to leave Spain a resume of the present state of 
affairs here may be appropriate. 

" Quiet reigns. It seems to me that the whole trouble will be 
amicably arranged. It is only necessary for Mr. Cleveland to make 
friendly overtures in order to get a friendly reply in regard to the 
reforms to be granted to Cuba. The present government has said as 
much. Laws have already been passed, and are only awaiting the 
cessation of hostilities to be enforced. 



238 UNITED STATES TO THE RESCUE. 

" Spain will strain every nerve to suppress the insurrection, although 
the government does not expect to succeed in this before the rainy- 
season sets in. On the contrary, preparations are now under way to 
send six thousand more soldiers to Cuba at the end of the summer. 
That will make a total of two hundred thousand men sent to the Island 
since the war began. 

"The jingo threats of American interference have really strength- 
ened the present government. Every Spaniard, whether conserva' 
tive, liberal or republican, would stand by the red and yellow flag, 
and afterward would fight it out among themselves. The conserva- 
tives, who outnumber the liberals by three to one, are doing every- 
thing in their power, without compromising the honor of the nation, 
to avert war with the United States. 

" The liberals are the jingoes of the Peninsula and they seem to 
think that Spain has been insulted quite enough already. The 
republicans are very much in the minority just now and are confined 
almost entirely to the northern provinces. They are against anything 
that is done by the government, and are consequently opposed to the 
pacific methods of Premier Canovas and his colleagues. Even they 
would stand by the Crown in case of war. 

Our Country Cordially Hated. 

" While there is a deep-seated bitterness to the United States all 
over the country, there is very little open exhibition of it. If the 
match were applied this feeling would explode with such violence that 
the lives of Americans would not be safe anywhere from Cadiz to 
San Sebastian. The recognition of the Cuban insurgents as belli- 
gerents would be such a match. The thousands of students in 
Madrid and Barcelona would start the trouble, and the infection 
would soon spread. It should be remembered that there are 17,000 
of these students in Madrid alone, and Madrid is only one of twelve 
university cities. 

" If war came I doubt if Spain would attempt to hold Cuba for 
any length of time. She would withdraw her troops and use them 
to defend the Peninsula from invasion. Before that happened the 



UNITED STATES TO THE RESCUE. 239 

effort would probably be made to attack Florida. Thirty merchant 
steamships, some of which are now being converted into cruisers, 
would be employed purely as privateers to harass American com- 
merce. It is the boast of the Spaniards that they drove Napoleon 
back across the Pyrenees by guerrilla warfare, and they believe they 
could drive the Stars and Stripes from the seas by corsair methods. 
" The regular Spanish navy would be kept near Cadiz and Barce- 
lona, and it would not be an easy matter to capture Cadiz, which is 
quite as well fortified as New York. New and big guns have re- 
cently been mounted on the shore batteries. Torpedoes and tor- 
pedo boats are there without number. Barcelona also is well pro- 
tected, and for that matter the defences of all the ports are being 
strengthened. 

Scarcity of Food. 

" Spain is so barren in food products that an invading army would 
have to depend entirely on its base for supplies. It could not live off 
the country. On the other hand, Spanish soldiers subsist on next to 
nothing. The private soldiers in the Spanish army honestly believe 
that in case of war Spain would win. They think this because the 
regular army of the United States numbers less than half the force 
now stationed in Madrid. 

" Even though the Cuban rebellion is costing Spain one million 
pesetas daily, still Spanish money is but little more depreciated than 
it was three years ago, in time of peace." 

The friendly efforts in the direction of mediation by the United 
States in Cuban affairs soon bore fruit. The State Department had 
information, it was reported, through Minister Taylor, at Madrid, 
that the Spanish authorities were making active preparations to put 
into effect the long-promised reforms in Cuba, which practically con- 
templated home rule for the Island. 

The exact date when these reforms would be put into operation 
was not known. There was some criticism even in Spanish circle's 
that these reforms were not inaugurated before the elections in Cuba. 
The war on the Island and the desire to crush it was the excuse 



240 UNITED STATES TO THE RESCUE. 

offered for not sooner carrying out the laws enacted on March 15, 
1895, by the Cortes. 

Not only was it proposed to carry out the provisions of these laws, 
but the Spanish Ministry contemplated further reforms, which would 
be submitted to the Cortes for its approval. There were reasons for 
believing that the United States had taken an important part toward 
inducing Spain to adopt a more conciliatory course in regard to 
Cuba, and that in the role of meditator strong efforts were made b$ 
this country, especially after the arrival of the newly appointed 
consul, General Fitzhugh Lee, in Havana, to induce the Cuban insur- 
gents to accept in a friendly spirit the contemplated changes in the 
administration of affairs in Cuba by the Spanish Government. 

The Proposed Reforms. 

The following is a copy of the laws enacted by the Cortes provid- 
ing for the reforms. The internal affairs of the Island were to be 
under the control of a council of administration, to comprise thirty 
members, fifteen to be appointed by royal decree and fifteen to be 
elected according to the census under new methods of suffrage. The 
council, however, would be subordinate to the Governor-General. 
The conditions prescribed for appointment or election of councillors 
were these : 

Besides a residence of at least four years on the Island, some one 
of the following qualifications were required: 

To be or to have been president of the Chamber of Commerce or 
the Economic Society of Friends of the Country or of the Planters' 
Club; to be or to have been director of the university, or dean of the 
College of Lawyers of the capital of a province for a period of two 
years ; to have been for a period of four years before the election one 
among the fifty largest taxpayers in the Island ; to have exercised 
the functions of Senator of the kingdom or Deputy to the Cortes in 
one or more legislatures ; to have been once or more than once pre- 
sident of the provincial Chambers of Deputies of the Island; to have 
been for two or more terms of two years each a member of the Pro- 
vincial Commission, or for eight years a provincial Deputy; to have 



UNITED STATES TO THE RESCUE. 241 

been for two or more terms Mayor in a capital of a province ; to 
have been councillor of administration for two or more years previous 
to the promulgation of this law. 

The councillors shall remain in office for a term of four years, the 
election taking place every two years alternately in the provinces of 
Havana, Pinar del Rio and Puerto Principe, and in those of Matanzas, 
Santa Clara and Santiago de Cuba. Havana shall elect four Council- 
lors, Santiago de Cuba three and the other provinces two each. The 
whole number of Councillors shall be elected on the promulgation of 
this law. In ordinary cases the elections shall take place at the same 
time and by the same ballot as those of the provincial Deputies. 

The Council shall examine the certificates of the members elected 
and decide as to the legal qualifications of the nominees of the people 
and of those of the Crown, and shall determine all questions relating 
to its Constitution in conformity to the law. In the first session of 
each year the Council shall appoint two vice-presidents and two 
secretaries, selected from the whole number of the Councillors. The 
Governor-General, whether permanent or provisional, shall be presi- 
dent of the Council. 

The Council of Administration shall have charge of all questions 
/elating to the constitution of municipalities and to the aggregation, 
segregation and demarcation of municipal districts. All questions 
relating to constitution of town councils, to matters pertaining to 
election, competency of nominees and the like shall be determined 
oy the provincial Chamber of Deputies. Presidents of the munici- 
palities will be those elected by the town councils among the town 
councillors, unless the Governor-General shall deem it expedient to 
replace them. 

The Council of Administration shall decree whatsoever it may 
deem expedient for the conduct of the public works throughout the 
Island and of the telegraphic and postal communications, both by 
land and sea; of agriculture, industry and commerce and of immigra- 
tion and colonization, of public instruction and of charities and health, 
without prejudice to the powers of supervision and other powers 
inherent in the sovereignty reserved by the laws to the national 

16 



242 UNITED STATES TO THE RESCUE. 

government. It shall make up and approve the annual budget, 
making in it the necessary appropriations for the administrative 
department, the heads of which may be summoned for the council of 
the administration, but shall not have the right to vote. The council 
shall exercise such functions as the municipal and provincial laws 
may assign to it and such as are assigned by other special laws. 

Everything Controlled by the Governor- General. 

The Governor-General will continue to be the immediate represen- 
tative of the national government in the Island of Cuba. He will 
have supreme command of all the forces on land and sea stationed on 
the Island. He will be the delegate of the Ministers of the Colony, 
State, war and navy, and all the other authorities of the Island will 
be subordinate to him. His appointment or removal will emanate 
from the President of the Cabinet, with the concurrence of the latter. 

He will continue to have direct charge of all international ques- 
tions, and will have an advisory council, composed of the Reverend 
Bishop of Havana, or the Reverend Archbishop of Santiago de Cuba ; 
the Commander-General of the Navy, the Lieutenant-Governor, the 
President and the Attorney-General of the High Court of Havana, 
the head of the Department of Finance and the director of local 
administration. 

In addition to the Island administrative reforms adopted by the 
Cortes of 1895, the Spanish Ministry considered a question of larger 
representation of native Cubans in public offices on the Island, and 
several important reforms in regard to customs and internal taxation. 

Meanwhile the war went on in Cuba, and Captain-General Weyler, 
the man who was to accomplish so much, who v/as to crush the 
rebellion within a few months, and who was to repair the mistakes of 
Campos, only involved the loyal cause in fresh misfortunes. His 
columns were defeated, his heartless proclamations set at naught, and 
the very discretion which kept him in safety in his Palace, was a fruit- 
ful subject for all kinds of unflattering insinuations. 

Says a correspondent : " Looking at him closely the other day I 
was struck more than ever with a curiosity to discover how it «s that 



UNITED STATES TO THE RESCUE. 243 

he has succeeded in inspiring- people with any confidence in his 
character. He does not even possess the appearance of a great male- 
factor, such as one can fancy of a Danton or a Sulla, but, on the con- 
trary, that of a very commonplace criminal, who would not look out 
of place in any police court in any city of the world. 

" Perhaps it is due to the effect which he produces when, trussed 
up in uniform, with his ribband and stars, and the Cruz Laureada, the 
Spanish equivalent of the Victoria Cross, gained in San Domingo 
in all probability for some action like Melguizo's. He is then a 
butoned-up man like Mr. Tite Barnacle, who, we have it on the 
authority of Dickens, was consequently a weighty one. All buttoned- 
up men are weighty, all buttoned-up men are believed in. 

Failure of General Weyler's Plans. 

" Weyler has the bitter disappointment just at present of knowing 
that the latest of his carefully devised plans has failed in its effect. 
Maceo, with some six hundred of his followers, has crossed the 
formidable trocha near Cayujabos, though how he crossed it remains 
still a mystery. This military Figaro is accustomed to perform such 
feats and to appear in the most unexpected places without the 
slightest warning. 

" The Spaniards, however, have a way of accounting for his last 
exploit which is more ingenious than probable. They say the 
insurgents disguise themselves as banana-sellers whenever they desire 
to pass through any fortified line. The soldiers imagine that thej 
are innocent countrymen, and consequently never think of interfering 
with their passage. Of course not. Have not recent events shown 
the perfect impunity with which non-combatants are at liberty to 
wander everywhere in safety, and how considerate and gentle com- 
manding officers have proved themselves of late ? 

" True to his policy of suppressing or distorting all news unfavor- 
able to the Spanish cause, Captain-General Weyler has exerted him- 
self to conceal the recognition of the belligerent rights of the insur- 
gents by Congress. For many days the newspapers in Havana have 
Wen accustomed to announce that no telegrams had been received by 



244 UNITED STATES TO THE RESCUE. 

them from the United States, but now they are forbidden to print 
even this notice, as doubtless too suggestive of coercive measures. 

" And yet, of what avail is all this secrecy in such a case ? Does 
the government imagine that a fact unacknowledged, for that very 
reason ceases to exist, or do they cling to the hope of something in 
the chapter of accidents to avert its fulfillment ? The good tidings 
finally leaked out, despite all precautions, and brought joy and con- 
solation to many a heart. 

" It is still, however, too little circulated to permit of any effect 
being openly manifest. The streets are tranquil, people attend to 
their business as usual, and there is no appearance ot any popular 
disturbance. There may, indeed, be none, or if there be it will surely 
follow upon some initiative proceeding in Barcelona or Madrid. 

" The Spaniards in Havana are inveterate enough towards the 
United States, but then they live too near its shores not to recognize 
the power and importance which distant Spain has not yet learned to 
appreciate. They would like, had they a reasonable chance of suc- 
cess, to go to war, while in their hearts they must acknowledge how 
vain is the delusion of landing an invading army or of sweeping 
American commerce from the ocean. They have continually before 
their eyes, too, the desperate condition of affairs in this Island, and 
they can realize in a way which their fellow-countrymen cannot, the 
disastrous overthrow of the Captain-General's tactics. 

" At this very time many of the people in the Province of Pinar 
del Rio have abandoned their dwellings, and are hiding in the sugar- 
cane to escape the brutalities of the columns, who are far more zeal- 
ous in seeking such opponents than in following up the Cuban 
forces. One can imagine a conversation between a privileged stranger 
and a sentinel upon one of the innumerable forts along the tracks. 

" ' What is that large body of men whom I see approaching from 
the hills?' 

"' Oh, that,' replies the other carelessly; 'why, nothing but a 
crowd of fellows coming to sell fruit to the troops.' 

" ' Your men are fond of fruit, then ? ' asks the stranger, 

" ' Oh, passionately,' says the sentinel. 



UNITED STATES TO THE RESCUE. 245 

"' But they have arms, I notice,' this a little anxiously, 'and they 
don't seem inclined to stop.' 

Why, you see how it is,' answers the soldier, ' the colonos all 
carry machetes, besides which, since that unfortunate affair at El 
Cano, we have to be cautious about firing upon stray parties.' 

" ' But, I say, look there, they've surely got a Cuban flag.' 

Don't know, I'm sure. I'm color blind,' says the sentinel, 
resuming his rounds and dropping the conversation. 

" It is, indeed, true that the Spaniards have been signalizing them- 
selves of late by their lamentable mistakes. The last one did not 
certainly destroy any of their own men, but it resulted in the death 
of four women and two children. This was on the evening of the 
attack upon Hayo Colorado. About nightfall a body of insurgents 
crept through an open drain into the town, and had secured a safe 
position before their presence was recognized by the garrison or by 
the outposts stationed in the forts around. 

Reckless Firing in the Streets. 

"The invaders were left unmolested to procure such stores and 
supplies as they required, and it was only when their business was 
transacted and they had departed that the soldiers ventured to com- 
mence firing. The volleys which they then poured at random into the 
streets failed in their object, for the excellent reason that the enemy 
was not there, but they killed the women and children all the same. 

" Strong measures are evidently to be taken with those planters 
who have failed to make at least some attempt at grinding. One of 
the offenders, Pedro Larrondo, of Sagua la Grande, in Santa Clara, 
has just been arrested for his obstinacy in this respect. In all proba- 
bility he thought it wiser to suffer the loss of one year's produce 
than to incur the certainty of having his fields and buildings 
destroyed by fire; but it remains to be seen whether Weyler's anger 
may not prove more disastrous still than Cuban flames. 

" Some men are now putting in large claims against the govern- 
ment for their many losses, alleging with reason that the order com- 
manding all civilians to withdraw from the country into the towns, 



246 UNITED STATES TO THE RESCUE. 

had left their plantations and farms completely at the mercy of the 
insurgents, and had also caused their cattle to die from want of 
water. But of what avail will it be even if these claims are admit- 
ted ? 

*■' ' Honey from silk worms, who can gather, 
Or silk from the yellow bee ?'' ' 

" And still more, who can expect to get compensation from a 
bankrupt nation, who do not pay their own army, and who have 
repudiated the many debts incurred in the last war in Cuba ? 

" The spy system continues on the even tenor of its way in 
Havana, in a manner that is sometimes, though not often, exceed- 
ingly ridiculous. When we American correspondents assemble in a 
group we are generally aware of the same stunted individual, who 
hovers on the outskirts with an assumed air of innocence, which sits 
about as well on his Old-Bailey-looking countenance as a smile 
would on that of a rhinoceros. They are kittle-cattle, however, to 
deal with, these honored companions of the Spanish officers. 

" They have methods of supplying evidence which have the merit, 
it least, of being unavoidable, and as they are never subjected to the 
cross-examination of their victims their carefully-prepared fabrica- 
tions invariably triumph. It was, in all probability, to one of their 
ivell-devised schemes that Mariano Artiz, of Narcissa, near Saguajay, 
H Cuban of fortune and position, owes the fact that he is now a pris- 
oner. An envelope directed to him was stopped at the post-office, in 
accordance with the system which holds no correspondence as 
•acred, and in it was found a letter to Maximo Gomez." 

About the middle of April one of the staff officers of the Cuban 
Army was m Philadelphia recovering from a wound received in a 
battle with the Spanish troops. He said that Gomez was again at the 
head of the insurgent forces and that Maceo would get away from the 
enemy, reported to have him hemmed in. Atrocities he declared 
continued. With the advent of the rainy season he said the patriots 
would inaugurate an offensive campaign. 

The story he told of the progress of the war, of the atrocities per- 
petrated after General Weyler assumed command of the Spanish 



UNITED STATES TO THE RESCUE. 247 

forces, and of the health of General Gomez, was one that will be read 
with interest, painful as it is in some respects. 

Peraza (this officer's name) was a fine specimen of the patriotic 
volunteer. Fully six feet in height, but twenty-four years of age, and 
weighing 177 pounds, burned very dark by the tropical sun under 
which he lived, he looked to be a hard fighter. He was wounded in 
a charge by the cavalry of his division, a rifle ball entering his left 
shoulder. Failing to have it extracted in the camp hospital, he 
managed to get to New York by steamer, bringing with him some 
important military papers, and there the missile was located and taken 
out. He was awaiting a favorable opportunity to get back to the 
scene of strife. 

Some Inside Facts. 

In his statement he said : " I want at the outset to deny that 
General Gomez has been wounded or that he is dying of consump- 
tion, as has been reported through Spanish sources. He has been 
sick from liver troubles, but is in a fair way to complete recovery 
and is again at the head of his forces, as active as he ever was and as 
confident of ultimate success as at any time since he took the field. 
He has now directly under him an army of 12,000 men, most of 
whom are well armed. 

" His total strength, counting the divisions of Maceo and other 
generals, is about 30,000. What is mostly lacking is ammunition. 
We meet the Spaniards and fight as long as our cartridges hold 
out and then divide into small groups, scattering in such a way that 
the government troops cannot reach us in force. 

" As to the burning of the plantations, the Spanish reports are to 
a great extent false. When any of our generals attack a place con- 
taining Americans or other foreigners their property is respected and 
is not touched at all. Gomez has issued positive orders to protect 
the interests of such persons rather than to harm them. With regard 
to the reports of our losses in battle they are always exaggerated by 
the enemy. 

" The latter never admit their own losses, but count those on our 



248 UNITED STATES TO THE RESCUE 

side as it may suit themselves. Our dead are always carried away 
and buried in the most convenient spots. None of our wounded are 
left on the field for fear the Spaniards would kill them outright. We 
send our wounded to the hospitals, located in the mountain fastnesses. 
Every division of our army has one of these places thus situated. 
There there are regular physicians, a few of them being from the 
United States. There are no Sisters of Charity, but there are Red 
Cross men and women, mostly Cubans. 

" The recent successful expeditions have been a great help to us. 
We have got some more artillery, and it is being used under the 
direction of General Bandera in the province of Labillas. The rainy 
season begins about the 15th of this month. Then comes the yellow 
fever. It will decimate the ranks of the Spanish soldiers, because 
they are not acclimated. Our forces will, however, go on harassing 
the enemy and will be on the offensive all the time instead of on the 
defensive. 

" General Weyler has not been any more successful against us 
than was Campos. In fact, less so. Our people think the former tc 
be a coward at heart. Campos took the field, while Weyler has not 
shown himself at all. He remains in Havana and gives orders to his 
so-called volunteers — orders which lead to many atrocities. 

" I have seen with my own eyes, on a farm in Lavin3s, the bodies 
of men who had been shot down simply because they were known 
to sympathize with the cause of liberty. One of my own cousins 
who was captured by the Spaniards was hung to a tree and several 
shots fired into him. When we take wounded Spaniards we care tor 
them, after taking away their rifles, until they are able to get back to 
their companions, when they are permitted to go. The killing of old 
men and old women by the Spanish volunteers goes on, no matter 
what the reports from government sources may say. 

" Concerning the statement that General Maceo has been hemmed 
in, I can only say that once before he was in a far worse position than 
he now is. He is as cool and fearless as Gomez, and when he uants 
to get away I guess he will be able to do it." 

The lieutenant was wounded in the left shoulder, " right nea the 



UNITED STATES TO THE RESCUE. 249 

Carolina State," he said. General Lacret was endeavoring to join a 
portion of his column that had become separated from him, when he 
was attacked by the Spaniards numbering 3000. Lacret had about 
1000 men. The fight lasted about two hours, when the insurgents 
retreated. Peraza told of a little boy but thirteen years of age, who 
was in one of the fights. A Spanish officer had had his arm broken 
by a rifle ball, but with his good hand he shot at the lad, hitting him 
in the left breast. The lad fell with a cry of " three cheers for Free 
Cuba." He was sent to the hospital and ultimately recovered. These 
children, the lieutenant said, follow the insurgents from place to place 
and are permitted to remain because of the fear that they will be 
killed if sent away. 

General Maceo Wins a Battle. 

On April 15th news reached Havana that there had been heavy 
fighting in Pinar del Rio province. Even official reports admitted 
that the Spanish columns were repulsed by General Antonio Maceo, 
with great loss of life. The admission was very significant, in view 
of the circumstances and the character of official reports, which gave 
rise to a proverb that the Spaniards' loss was always one man when- 
ever they were compelled to acknowledge defeat. 

It was very difficult to obtain details of Maceo's victory. The 
Spanish version alone was received. All telegraph lines were cut, and 
news filtered to the city only by word of mouth. The battle was west 
of the military strategic line, near Lechuza. Government reports had 
previously located Maceo through an error at Lachuza, east of the line. 

Further information received from private sources in Havana 
showed that this was the bloodiest engagement of the war. The 
Spanish forces, under Colonel Linares, suffered overwhelming defeat 
at the hands of Antonio Maceo, who commanded a force of eight 
thousand men in a strong position. 

Spanish reports placed Colonel Linares' force at fifteen hundred, 
of whom 450 were killed ana 500 wounded. The insurgents lost 200 
killed and about 400 wounded. The Spanish plan was for three bat- 
talions to attack Maceo simultaneously, but Colonel Echoverrea'j 



250 UNITED STATES TO THE RESCUE. 

battalion failed to arrive. It was stated that he was to be court- 
martialed. 

Maceo led his troops into the thickest of the fight, and Colonel 
Linares' forces retreated in disorder. They finally made a stand on 
the wharf of the San Claudia plantation behind rude fortifications, 
until a warship came to their rescue. The Cuban forces on the 
shore made sad havoc with the troops as they embarked, shooting 
them down in their boats. In the battle the Amazons, a company of 
Cuban women, fought bravely. 

In an effort to capture Colonel Linares, an insurgent, Alvarez, got 

separated. Seeing his danger, Mrs. Alvarez and several others 

followed him. Both husband and wife were caught in the Spanish 

lines and tried to fight their way back with machetes. Thinking that 

his wife was at his side still, Alvarez made his escape, but she was 

cut off at the last moment and was literally hacked to pieces by 

Spanish machetes. In his grief and chagrin Alvarez shot himself 

seriously. 

"If You Live I Will Hang You." 

General Maceo commanded him to appear before him. On 
demanding a reason for his crime, Alvarez said he could not endure 
life purchased by his wife's death. Maceo replied : " Pray God you 
may die, for if you live I will surely hang you. Cuba needs men too 
sorely to lose any except in the face of the enemy." 

The news of the Spanish defeat produced a great sensation in 
Havana, and the censors were forced to admit many details. 

Maceo's alleged heavy losses at La Palma, on the other hand, were 
corroborated by details received at Havana through non-official 
sources. The town was well fortified, and the rebel leader's attack 
was repelled. He directed his cannon on the town with his own 
hands. He was very anxious to capture it, as it contained large 
stores of ammunition and supplies. Two hundred volunteered and 
made the attempt. They crawled on their hands and knees through 
the fields, and about one hundred and fifty managed to enter the 
town. Ninety were shot from behind the walls before the others 
beat a retreat. Nearly all those killed were negroes. 



UNITED STATES TO THE RESCUE. 251 

An unusually large number of sugar plantations were burned. 
The losses from this source were said to aggregate $4,500,000 within 
a period of eight days. Property-owners ran equal risks from both 
sides. The Spanish troops passing estates shared by insurgents 
burned them, believing that the owners paid taxes to the insurgent 
government. The insurgents also continued their policy of destruc- 
tion, and were determined to lay the country waste. The ruin was 
widespread, and the misery was growing greater. 

The insurgents anxiously awaited a formal declaration of belliger- 
ency by the United States, and believed that every South and Central 
American government would immediately follow the example. 

"A delay until August will mean the destruction of property worth 
$80,000,000 more," said one leader, grimly. " Weyler's regime has 
been marked by horrible cruelty, and minor officials feel or know that 
extreme measures will be approved." 

Reports of massacres of innocent persons everywhere in the inte- 
rior were, in fact, received daily in Havana. The Delgado incident 
was duplicated frequently, but the victims did not live to tell the tale. 

Already there was a scarcity of horses in Cuba. General Weyler 
issued a decree that all owners of horses must have them examined 
by the government, so that all needed for the use of the troops might 
be bought. There was a promise of fair and prompt payment. 
Animals not fit for service were to be registered as worthless ; others 
would either be taken or held subject to call, and branded to indicate 
their class. Owners failing to comply were +0 be deemed " unfaith- 
ful " to their country. 

The threat had a terrible meaning in the existing condition of 
affairs, when executions of insurgents were too common to attract 
more than passing notice. Several persons living in Havana, on 
reading the orders, promptly decided to kill their riding horses to 
prevent them falling into the hands of the Spaniards. 

" That is the only sensible plan," remarked a prominent man. "We 
llon't want to help the enemy with animals. If the government took 
our horses we would have a small claim, and little chance of payment. 
We can't keep them safely, and the best way is to slaughter them." 



252 UNITED STATES TO THE RESCUE. 

Orders were given to the army to kill all horses and cattle in the 
country that could not be utilized, to prevent their possible use by 
the insurgents. Cavalrymen, whose mounts became too jaded to 
keep the line, must kill them. Passing troops were to use cattle for 
rifle practice, and whenever they saw horses they were to compare 
them with their own to see if an exchange was desirable. 

Scarcity of food was reported everywhere in the interior of the 
Island. The price of meat rose in Havana. Game, which formerly 
abounded in the local market, could not be obtained, as there was no 
one to shoot birds in the hills except the troops. The fish supply 
continued good, although the fishermen were prohibited from going 
on the water except between sunrise and sunset, for fear of commu- 
nicating with the insurgents. 

Blood and Conflagration. 
An interesting letter from General Gomez, the Cuban leader, con- 
cerning the war conditions on the Island, was received by President 
Palma, of the Cuban Junta. It reads as follows : 

" Sagua, Cuba, March 19. 

" Dear Friend : — The war continues more active and hard on 
account of the fierce character which General Weyler has given to it. 

" Our wounded are followed and assassinated cruelly ; he who has 
the misfortune to fall into the hands of the Spanish troops, perishes 
without fail. The peaceful country people only find death and dis- 
honor. 

" Cuba to-day, as in 1868, only presents pools of blood dried by 
conflagrations. Our enemies are burning the houses to deprive us, 
according to them, of our quarters for Spring. We will never use 
reprisals, for we understand that the revolution will never need to 
triumph by being cruel and sanguinary. 

" We will go on with this war, the ultimate result of which you 
need not worry about — with success for the arms of the republic. 
We fight, when convenient to us, against an enemy tired out and 
without faith. 



UNITED STATES TO THE RESCUE. 253 

" My plans are well understood by my subordinates and each one 
knows what to do. Give us cartridges so that our soldiers can fight, 
and you can depend that in the Spring campaign the enemy's army 
will be greatly reduced, and it will be necessary for Spain to send 
another army, and I do not know whether it would be rash to say 
that perhaps Spain has not the money with which to do it. 

" Everything that Spain orders and sends to this land, that she has 
drenched with the blood of her own children, only serves to ruin her 
power. And no man could be so well chosen as General Weyler, to 
represent in these times and in America the Spain of Philip II. 

" Much is said and written about the recognition of belligerency 
by the American Government ; this would be very advantageous to 
us, and is only doing justice, but as when we rose against tyranny, 
we only counted on the strength of our arms and the firm resolution 
of victory, we follow our march unconcerned, satisfied that what is 
to happen will happen. 

" Your friend, 

" Maximo Gomez." 

Maceo Discusses his Western Campaign. 

A letter from General Antonio Maceo, the insurgent Cuban leader, 
which showed his movements and the success met with, was received 
by Cuban leaders at Washington. It was dated at Cabanas, March 
21, and read as follows : 

" You know by my previous letters that the triumphant arms of the 
Republic were carried to the extreme western end of the Island. 
Everything that we desired has been obtained. The revolution is 
powerful in the provinces, which, as you know, were considered to be 
bulwarks of Spanish sentiment. Even the most remote places in the 
province of Pinar Del Rio responded admirably. 

"Antonio Maceo." 

Respecting the promises of Spain to institute reforms in Cuba, 
hoping thereby to end the insurrection, T. Estrada Palma, Cuban 
Delegate to the Government at Washington, said : 



254 UNITED STATES TO THE RESCUE. 

u The question of the supposed reforms is not a matter which at all 
concerns those who have already established an independent govern- 
ment in Cuba and have resolved to shrink from no sacrifice of pro- 
perty or life in order to emancipate the whole Island from the Spanish 
yoke. Spain must know by this time that while there is a single living 
Cuban with dignity there will not be peace in Cuba nor even the 
hope of it. 

" If the right of thirteen British Colonies to rise in arms in order to 
acquire their independence has never been questioned, will there be a 
single citizen in this great republic who will doubt the justice, the 
necessity in which the Cuban people find themselves of fighting until 
they shall have overthrown Spanish oppression in their country and 
formed themselves into a free republic ? 

Must be Fought to the Bitter End. 

" Experience has taught us that as a people we have nothing to 
envy the Spaniards — in fact we feel ourselves superior to them, and 
from them we can expect no improvement, no better education. 

" Let all know also that between the present revolution and the 
government of Spain there is no possible arrangement, if not based 
on the recognition of Cuban independence." 

We cannot better close this tragic story of Cuba's gallant struggle 
for independence than by quoting the words of one of her distin- 
guished sons : 

"The population of the Island is, in round numbers, 1,600,000, of 
which less than 200,000 are Spaniards, some 500,000 are colored 
Cubans, and over 800,000 white Cubans. Of the Spaniards a small 
but not an inconsiderable fraction, although not taking an active part 
in the defense of our cause, sympathize with and are supporting it in 
various ways. Of the Cubans, whether colored or white, all are in 
sympathy with the revolution, with the exception of a few scattered 
individuals who hold positions under the Spanish Government or are 
engaged in enterprises which cannot thrive without it. All of the 
Cubans who have had the means and the opportunity to join the 
revolutionary army have done so, while those who have been com- 



UNITED STATES TO THE RESCUE. 255 

pclled for one reason or another to remain in the cities are co- 
operating to the best of their abilities. If the people of the small 
section of the western part of the Island, which yet remains quiet, 
were supplied with arms and ammunition they would all rise to a 
man within twenty-four hours. 

Spanish Threats. 

" This revolution of the whole Cuban people against the Govern- 
ment of Spain is what the Spanish officials are pleased to describe as 
& disturbance caused by a few adventurers, robbers, bandits, and 
assassins ! But they have a purpose in so characterizing it, and it is 
no other than to justify, in some way, the war of extermination which 
the Prime Minister of Spain himself has declared will be waged by 
his Government against the Cuban people ! They are not yet satis- 
fied with the rivers of human blood with which in times past they 
inundated the fields of Italy, of the Low Countries, of our continent 
of America, and only a few years ago, of Cuba itself! The Spanish 
newspaper of Havana, El Pueblo, urges the Spanish soldiers to give 
no quarter, to spare no one, to kill all, all without exception, until 
they shall have torrents of Cuban blood in which to bathe them- 
selves 1 

" It is well ! The Cubans accept the challenge, but they will not 
imitate their tyrants and cover themselves with infamy by waging a 
savage war. The Cubans respect the lives of their Spanish prisoners, 
they do not attack hospitals, and they cure and assist, with the same 
care and solicitude with which they cure and assist their own, the 
wounded Spaniards who may fall into their hands. They have done 
so from the beginning of the war, and they will not change their 
humane policy. 

" The Spanish officials have also attempted to convince you that 
the Cuban war is a war of races. Of what races ? Of the black 
against the white ? It is not true, and the facts plainly show that 
there is nothing of the kind. Nor is the war waged by Cubans 
against the Spaniards as such. No. The war is waged against the 
Government of Spain, and only against the Government of Spain and 



256 UNITED STATES TO THE RESCUE. 

the officials and a few monopolists who, under it, live and thrive upon 
the substance of the Cubans. We have no ill feeling against the 
thousands of Spaniards who industriously and honestly make their 
living in Cuba. 

" But with the Spanish Government we will make no peace, and we 
will make no compromise. Under its rule there will be nothing for 
our people but oppression and misery. For years and years the 
Cuban people hive patiently suffered, and in the interest of the colony, 
as well as in tha interest of the metropolis, have earnestly prayed for 
reforms. Spain has not only turned a deaf ear to the prayers, but 
instead of reforming the most glaring abuses has allowed them to 
increase and flourish, until such a point has been reached that the 
continuation of the Spanish rule means for the Cuban people utter 
destruction." 



PART II. 

History of Cuba and Spanish Misrule. 



CHAPTER XX. 
Early Colonists and Rulers. 

CUBA, the finest and largest of the West India Islands, was 
discovered by Columbus himself, on the 28th day of October, 
1492, and was named by him Juana, in honor of Prince John, 
the son of Ferdinand and Isabella, the sovereigns of Aragon and 
Castile. 

Upon the death of Ferdinand, the Island was called Fernandina. 
It afterward received the name of Santiago, as a mark of reverence 
for the patron saint of Spain, and still later, the inhabitants, to illustrate 
their piety, gave it that of Ave Maria, in honor of the Holy Virgin. 

Notwithstanding these several titles, the island is still principally 
known by its original Indian name of Cuba; a name which it bore 
when the great navigator first landed on its shores, and which in all 
probability it is destined to retain. 

With regard to the character of the aboriginal inhabitants of the 
Island, it is universally admitted by all the Spanish authors who have 
written on the subject, that they were disinterested and docile, gentle 
and generous, and that they received the first discoverer, as well as 
the conquerors, who followed in his track, with the most marked 
attention and courtesy. At the same time they are represented as 
being entirely given up to the enjoyment of those personal indul- 
gences, and all the listlessness and love of ease, which the climate 
is supposed to provoke, and which is said to have amounted in the 
; 7 2.07 



258 EARLY COLONISTS AND RULERS. 

eyes of their European conquerors to positive cowardice and pusilla- 
nimity. 

They seldom spoke until first addressed by the strangers, and then 
with perfect modesty and respect. Their hospitality was unbounded , 
but they were unwilling to expose themselves to any personal fatigue 
beyond what was strictly necessary for their subsistence. The culti- 
vation of the soil was confined, as Columbus had observed, to the 
raising of yams, garbanzos, and maize, or Indian corn, but as hunts- 
men and fishermen they were exceedingly expert. 

Their Costume and Customs. 

Their habiliments were on the most limited scale, and their laws 
and manners sanctioned the practice of polygamy. The use of iron 
was totally unknown to them, but they supplied the want of it with 
pointed shells, in constructing their weapons, and in fashioning their 
implements for fishing and the chase. Their almost total want oi 
quadrupeds is worthy of notice. 

Although the Island was divided into nine principalities, under nine 
different caciques, all independent of each other, yet such was the 
pacific disposition of the inhabitants that the most perfect tranquillity 
prevailed throughout the Island at the time of the arrival of the in- 
vaders. The several governments were administered in the simplest 
form, the will of the cacique being received as law by his subjects, 
and the age he had attained being in general the measure of his in- 
fluence and authority, and of the reverence and respect with which 
he was treated. Their religion was limited to a belief in the immor- 
tality of the soul, and to the existence of a beneficent Deity — un Dios 
remunerador. 

But their priests were cunning, superstitious, or fanatic, pretending 
to intelligence with malignant spirits, and maintaining their influence 
over the people by working on their fears, and practicing the 
/grossest and most ridiculous extravagances. No sanguinary sacri- 
fices were resorted to, however ; still less could the gentle race be 
chargeable with the horrid practices of the savage anthropophagi ; 
and, according to the earliest Spanish authorities, they distinguished 



EARLY COLONISTS AND RULERS. 259 

themselves beyond any other Indian nation by the readiness and 
docility with which they received the doctrines of Christianity. 

The town of Baracoa, which was called de la Asumcion, was the 
first that was founded, and was for some time considered the capital, 
until, in the year 15 14, the whole of it had been overrun and 
examined. In that year, the towns of Santiago and Trinidad, on the 
southern side, were founded for the purpose of facilitating the com- 
munications of the new colonists with the Spanish inhabitants of 
Jamaica. 

Founding a New Town. 

Near the centre of the Island also were established, soon after this 
period, the towns of Bayamo, Puerto Principe, and Santi-Espiritus, 
and that of Baracoa was considerably enlarged. In the sequel, as 
there was no town toward the north, that of San Juan de los Reme- 
dios was founded; and on the 25tn of July, 15 15, at the place now 
called Batabano, on the south side of the Island, was planted a town 
with the name of San Cristobal de la Habana, in deference to the 
memory of the illustrious discoverer; but in the year 15 19 this name 
was transferred to the place where the capital now stands. 

The leaning of the Spaniards toward the southern side of the 
Island appears to have arisen from their previous possession of 
Jamaica and the Costa Firme; as till then they had no idea of the 
existence of the Floridas, or of New Spain ; the expedition for tht 
conquest of which, as well as the steps toward tlv ir first discovery, 
having been taken from the Island of Cuba. 

The town of Baracoa, having first been raised to the dignity of a 
city and a bishopric, was declared the capital of the Island in 15 18, 
and remained so 'ill 1522, when both were transferred to Santiago 
de Cuba. In 1538 the Havana, second city of the name, was sur- 
prised by a French privateer, who reduced it to ashes. This mis- 
fortune brought the Governor of the Island, Hernando de Soto, to the 
spot, who lost no time in laying the foundation of the Castillo dc la 
Fuerza, one of the numerous fortresses which still exist for the 
defence of the city. With this protection, combined with the advan 
iageous geographical position of the harbor, the ships already pass- 



260 EARLY COLONISTS AND RULERS. 

ing, charged with the riches of New Spain, on their way to the 
Peninsula, were induced to call there for supplies of water and 
provisions. 

In this way the Havana began to rise in importance by insensible 
degrees, insomuch that in 1549, on the arrival of a new Governor, 
Gonzalez Perez de Angulo, he resolved on making it his place of 
residence. His example was followed by subsequent governors, and 
in this way the city, although without any royal or legal sanction, 
came to be silently regarded as the capital of the Island, until in 
1589 it was formally declared so by the peninsular government, at 
the time of the nomination of the first Captain-Gtneral, El Maestre 
de Campo, Juan de Tejada, who was positively directed to take up his 
residence at the Havana. 

Residence of Early Chiefs. 

In the annals of the Island the names of the first Governors and 
of their lieutenants have not been recorded with a degree of accuracy 
that can be altogether depended on. All that is known with certainty 
is, that the early chiefs resided at Santiago de Cuba, from its being 
the place where the largest population was collected, from its prox- 
imity to Jamaica and St. Domingo, and from its being the scat of ths 
ecclesiastical jurisdiction. For the Havana and other towns of in 
ferior importance, lieutenants were appointed. 

This system continued until the year 1538, when Hernando de 
Soto, who, to the rank of Addantado of the Floridas, added the office 
of Governor of Cuba, having arrived at Santiago, passed a few days 
there, and then proceeded to the continent. In his absence he left 
the government of the Island in the hands of a lady, Dona Isabel de 
Bobadilla, and gave her for a colleague, Don Juan de Rojas. This 
Rojas had previously resided at the Havana, in quality of lieutenant- 
governor; and ^'t is from this date that the gradual transference of the 
seat of power from Santiago to the Havana may be said to have 
arisen. It was not till the year 1607 that the Island was divided into 
two separate governments. 

In K4^. Don Juan de Avila assumed the government, and to him 



EARLY COLONISTS AND RULERS. 26J 

in 1 547 succeeded Don Antonio de Chavez, to whom the Havana is 
indebted for its first regular supply of water, bringing it from the 
river called by the aborigines Casiguaguas, and by the Spaniards 
Chorrera, a distance of two leagues from the city. At that period 
the trade of the place was limited. The largest and wealthiest pro- 
prietors were mere breeders of cattle ; as yet agriculture was very lit- 
tle attended to, and any actua' labor performed consisted in exploring 
the neighborhood in pursuit of the precious metals. 

Obtaining Supplies at Havana. 

To this governor succeeded Dr. Gonzalo Perez de Angulo, who, 
according to the historian Urrutia, was the first who resided at the 
Ila/ana during the greater part of his administration. At this pe- 
riod the number of cattle and the practice of agriculture had so 
much increased that the expeditions from the neighboring continent 
obtained their supplies at the Havana, and from thence also large 
quantities of provisions were sent to the Terra Firnia. For some 
time large profits were made by means of these exports, more espe- 
cially \t. the sale of horses for the troops ; but the continental settle- 
ments, having at length been able to provide for themselves, this 
source of profit was dried up. 

In the year 1554 the government was assumed by Don Diego de 
Mazariegos, and, during his administration, the Havana was again 
attacked and reduced to ashes by the French, notwithstanding the 
protection supposed to be afforded by the Castillo de la Fuerza. 
The other towns of the Island were also insulted, insomuch that the 
bishop of the diocese was compelled to leave Santiago and take up 
his residence at Bayamo, causing a serious misunderstanding be- 
tween the ecclesiastical authorities and the civil governor. 

To Mazariegos, in 1565, succeeded Garcia Osorio, and to Os^rio, 
two years afterward, Don Pedro Melendez de Avilez, who at the 
same time held the office of Adelantado of the Floridas, administer- 
ing the affairs of the Island for a number of years by means of a series 
nf lieutenant-governors. At this period, the hospital of San Juan 
de Dios, and a church dedicated to San Cristobal, were erected at the 



262 EARLY COLONISTS AND RULERS. 

Havana. This church was built on the spot now occupied oy the 
residence of the captain-general. 

Don Gabriel Montalvo was the successor of Melendez, and 
assumed the government in 1576. In his time the Franciscan con* 
vent was erected, in spite of the opposition of the bishop ; and prepa- 
rations were made, by the building of suitable vessels, for the 
extirpation of the pirates by whom the coasts of the Island were 
infested. Don Francisco Carreno, the successor of Montalvo, 
assumed the command in 1578. In his time the weights and mea- 
sures of the Island were regulated ; and vast quantities of timbei 
were shipped to the mother-country, to contribute toward the con- 
struction of the convent and palace of the Escurial. 

Raids by Pirates. 

During ttie administration of Don Gaspar de Torres, the successor 
of Carreno, who arrived in 1580, not only Cuba, but the neighboring 
islands of Jamaica and St. Domingo, were more than ever annoyed 
by piratical incursions. The expense occasioned by the attempts to 
suppress tb^m was so great that it became necessary to impose a 
special tax, called la sisa de piragua, to cover it. 

At this period was begun the cultivation of tobacco and the sugar- 
cane, the labor of which was found to be too great for the indolent 
aborigines, whose numbers had already been materially diminished 
by the state of slavery to which they had been reduced. It was to 
promote the production of these new luxuries that a royal license 
was first obtained for importing negroes from the coast of Africa. 

The continued presence and increasing numbers of the pirates 
began to give a factitious importance to the castellanos of the fortress, 
which protected the harbor of the Havana, and sheltered the lanclias 
and piraguas and the guardacostas themselves. A military power 
thus insensibly arose, which, coming into collision with that of the 
civil governor, caused a great deal of disturbance and confusion. 

The next governor, Don Gabriel de Lujan, who arrived in 1584, 
came to such a serious rupture with Don Diego Fernandez de Qui- 
nones, the Castellano de la Fuerza, that the real audiencia of the 



EARLY COLONISTS AND RULERS. 263 

district, at the instigation of Quinones, took it upon them to suspend 
Don Gabriel from his administration of the government, but some 
time afterward restored him. On the application of the Ayuntamiento, 
the two offices were afterward combined and vested in the same indi- 
vidual. During Lujan's administration, several hostile demonstrations 
vvere made against the Island ; but none of them were seriously 
prosecuted. 

The attacks of a diminutive enemy, the ant, became so alarming, 
however, that it was thought necessary by the Cabildo, or chapter of 
the diocese, to elect a new patron saint, and to confer that dignity on 
San Marcial, the bishop agreeing to celebrate his fiesta, and keep his 
day yearly, on the condition of his interceding for the extermination 
ot the hormigas and vivijaguas. 

Two Famous Fortresses. 

The successor of Lujan, Don Juan de Tejada, was the first gover- 
lor who arrived with the rank of captain-general, in which were 
mcluded the same powers and jurisdiction enjoyed by the vireycs of 
the continental possessions of the crown. Tejada was directed to 
commence the construction of the two fortresses now known as the 
Morro and the Punta, and for this purpose brought with him the 
Engineer Don Juan Bautista Antoneti ; and he was authorized to 
negotiate with the provinces of New Spain for obtaining contribu- 
tions by which to support the garrison, which at that time was limited 
for all the three fortresses to three hundred men. 

After the building of the Morro was begun, it is said that Antoneti, 
having ascended the heio-hts of the Cabana, remarked to those about 
him, that from that point the city and the Morro itself would b< 
commanded. This opinion having been communicated to the govern- 
ment, the construction of the present fortress of the Cabanas was 
immediately determined on. During Tejada's government the 
Havana received the title of Ctudad; the Ayuntamiento was increased 
to the number of twelve regidores ; and a coat of arms was given to 
it by Philip the Second, bearing on a blue field three castles argent, 
n allusion to the Fuerza, the Morro, and the Punta, and a golden key 



264 EARLY COLONISTS AND RULERS. 

to signify that it was the key of the Indies ; the whole surmounted 
by a crown. 

Tejada was succeeded as captain-general in 1602 by Don Pedro 
Valdes, who made strong representations to the court on the subject 
of the excesses committed by the pirates, by whose incursions 
Santiago had been almost depopulated. The bishop, on returning 
there from Bayamo on a temporary visit, was seized, tied, stripped, 
and carried off by the pirate Giron, and detained for eighty days on 
board his vessel, until he was ransomed by the payment of two hun- 
dred ducats and five arrobas of beef by Don Gregorio Ramos who, 
after rescuing the bishop, succeeded in destroying the pirate. 

A Subordinate Governor. 

From the insecurity of Santiago, this bishop attempted, but with- 
out success, to establish his cathedral at the Havana. The supreme 
government, however, to stay the progress of depopulation at San- 
tiago resolved on establishing there a subordinate governor with the 
rank oicapitan de guerra, and appointed to the office Don Juan de 
Villaverde, the Castillo of the Mono, who was charged with the 
defence of his new jurisdiction against the pirates. 

The successor of Valdes was Don Gaspar Ruiz de Pereda in 1608; 
and that of Pereda in 16 16 was Don Sancho de Alquiza. This last 
had been previously the Governor of Venezuela and Guiana, and he 
is recorded to have applied himself with energy to the working of the 
copper mines at Cobre in the neighborhood of Santiago; the super- 
intendence of which was for some dme annexed to the office of cap- 
tain-general of the Havana, although it was afterward transferred to 
the lieutenant-governor at Santiago. 

The annual produce of that period was about 2000 quintals, and 
the copper extracted is represented to have been of a quality superior 
tc anything then known in the foundries of Europe. Alquiza died 
after having enjoyed his office only two years; and by a provision of 
the real audiencia, he was succeeded in the temporary command by 
Geronimo de Quero, the Castillo of the Morro, whose military 
rank was that of sargento mayor. 



EARLY COLONISTS AND RULERS. 205 

From this period till the year 17 15, it appears that, in the nomina- 
tion of captains-general, a declaration was constantly introduced to 
the effect that the castellanos of the Morro, on the death of the 
captain-general, should succeed to the military command of the 
Island; but since the year 171 5 an officer has been specially named 
with the rank of teniente rey or cabo-snbalte'no, whose functions acquire 
an active character only on the death or incapacity of his chief. 

Closing the Entrance to the Harbor. 

Doctor Damian Velasquez de Contreras succeeded Alquiza in 
1620, and Don Lorenzo de Cabrera, the next captain-general, was 
appointed to the command in 1626. A charge was brought against 
Cabrera, that he had sold a cargo of negroes in the Havana without 
a royal license; which being backed by other complaints, the licen 
ciado Don Francisco de Pradawas sent out to inquire into them, and 
by him the captain-general was sent home to the Peninsuia, when de 
Prada assumed the civil and political jurisdiction, and assigned the 
military command to Don Cristobal de Aranda, the alcaide of the 
Morro. During the joint administration of de Prada and Aranda it 
was resolved to shut up the entrance of the harbor by means of a 
chain drawn across it, a resolution which is described by the historians 
of the period as having been exceedingly extravagant and absurd. 

The next captain-general was Don Juan Bitrian de Viamonte, who 
began his administration in 1630, and projected the construction of 
two strong towers, the one in Chorrera, and the other in Cojimar, but 
the plan was not carried into effect until the year 1646. At this 
period a certain good woman, known by the name of Magdalena dc 
Jesus, established a sort of female sanctuary, called a beatcrio, which, 
gave rise to the establishment of the first female monastery of Santa 
Clara. 

Fears of an invasion of the Island by the Dutch now began to be 
entertained in the Peninsula; and as Viamonte's health was infirm, 
he was removed to the presidency of St. Domingo; and, in 1634. 
Don Francisco Riano y Gamboa was sent out to replace him. 
Gamboa introduced important reforms in the collection of the 



266 EARLY COLONISTS AND RULERS. 

revenue. He established a court of accounts at the Havana, to 
which was afterward referred the examination of all public disburse- 
ments, not only for the Island of Cuba, but for Porto Rico, the 
Floridas, and that portion of the Spanish navy called the windward 
fleet, la Armada de Barlovcnto. 

At first, a single accountant-general was named; but a second was 
afterward added, with instructions to visit alternately the various ( 
parts where the colonial revenue was collected or disbursed. Dur- 
ing the government of Gamboa, also, a commissioner of the Inquisi- 
tion came from Carthagena to reside in the Havana; to provide for 
whose support one of the canons of the cathedral ut Santiago was 
suppressed. The bishops had for some time acquired a taste for 
residing in the capital, and other members of the ecclesiastical 
cabildo began to follow their example, soon degenerating into an 
abuse which loudly called for a remedy. 

Spanish Possessions in America Threatened. 

The successor of Gamboa was Don Alvaro de Luna y Sarmiento, 
ftrho commenced his administration in 1639, and in the course of it 
completed the castle of Chorrera, two leagues to leeward of the 
Havana, and the Torreon de Cojimar, one league to windward. 

In 1647, Sarmiento was succeeded by Don Diego de Villalva y 
Toledo, who, in 1650, was replaced by Don Francisco Gelder. Dur- 
ing Gelder's administration, the establishment of the Commonwealth 
in England gave rise to serious apprehensions for the safety of the 
Spanish possessions in America; especially when it became known 
that, in 1655, a squadron had sailed by order of the Protector, the 
ostensible object of which was the reconciliation of the English colo- 
nies to the new form of government, but with the real design of cap- 
turing Jamaica. 

It is scarcely necessary to add, that this design was successfully 
executed ; that the Spanish defenders of Jamaica were dispersed, and 
the governor killed, and that many of the inhabitants removed in 
consequence to Cuba. An attempt on the Havana was also made by 
this expedition, but the assailants were successfully resisted. The 



EARLY COLONISTS AND RULERS. 267 

failure is ascribed by the Spaniards to a sort of miracle performed in 
their favor. The invaders having landed on a very dark night, they 
became so terrified, according to the Spanish authorities, by the noise 
of the landcrabs and the flitting light of the fire-flies, which they took 
for an enemy in ambuscade, that they fled to their ships in the 
utmost disorder and confusion. 

An Expedition that never Sailed. 

The next captain-general was Don Juan Montano, who arrived in 
1656. During his time the Spaniards of Jamaica continued to 
defend themselves under two distinguished hacendados, Don Fran- 
cisco Proenza and Don Cristobal de Isasi ; who, for their exertions 
in preserving the Island to the Spanish crown, received thanks and 
honors from the court. Orders were also sent out to the other 
Spanish settlements in America to lend their assistance to the 
Jamaica loyalists ; and a strong expedition was prepared in the 
Peninsula, having the same object in view. In the end, however, in 
consequence of the sickness which prevailed on board the ships, the 
expedition never sailed, and the Spaniards were compel!^ to evacu 
at'* the Island. 

Montano, having died within a year after his arrival, was succeeded 
in the command, in 1658, by Don Juan de Salamanca, in whose time 
the incursions of the pirates became more troublesome than ever, on 
all the coasts of Spanish America. As many of them had the auda- 
city to sail under the flags of France and England, the court of Spain 
addressed itself to these governments on the subject, and received for 
answer that, having no countenance or authority from either, the 
Spaniards were at liberty to deal with them as they thought fit. 

At this period the French, having established themselves in the 
f'sland of Tortuga, began from thence by slow degrees, first on hunt- 
ing parties, and afterward more permanently, to make encroachments 
on the neighboring coast of the Island of St. Domingo ; until, in the 
end, they had completely taken possession of the western part of it, 
and created there a respectable colony. According to the Spanish 
authorities, the French colonists of St. Domingo formed an alliance 



268 EARLY COLONISTS AND RULERS. 

with the English in Jamaica, and, without the sanction of either of 
their governments in Europe, made piratical incursions in the Span- 
ish territories, and at length became so formidable that tne Spaniards 
found it necessary f o fortify their possessions, and to combine 
together for their n._rual protection. The most remarkable of these 
piratical leaders was the Frenchman Lolonois and the celebrated 

Morgan. 

The Walls of Havana are Built. 

In 1663 arrived as captain-general Don Rodrigo de Flores y 
Aldana, who in the following year was relieved by Don Francisco 
Orejon y Gaston, previously Governor of Gibraltar and Venezuela. 
Fearing the neighborhood of the English in Jamaica, Gaston applied 
himself to the construction of the walls of the Havana; and to meet 
the expense he was authorized to levy half a real on each quarter 
of an arroba of wine, nearly equal to a gallon, which might be sold 
in the city; but this having given rise to complaints, the Spanish 
government, by a royal cedula, directed that $20,000 a year should 
be raised for the purpose in Mexico ; and that as much more should 
be procured as the captain-general could extract by other means from 
the inhabitants of the Havana. 

The next Governor was Don Rodriguez de Ledesma, who assumed 
his functions in 1670, and prosecuted the work ol fortification with 
the g-eatest ardor. He also prepared a naval armament for the pro- 
tection of the coast. It was at this time that the working of the cop- 
per mines near Santiago was abandoned, and that the reconstruction 
of the cathedral in that city was begun ; but the greater part of the 
slaves employed in the mines were sent to the Havana to work on 
the fortifications. During Ledesma's administration, a French party 
landed in the eastern part of the Island, to the number of 800, under 
the command of one Franquinay, with the intention of plundering the 
city of Santiago, but they withdrew without doing any damage, 
alarmed, according to the Spanish accounts, by hearing the mere cry 
of " al anna." 

In 1675 the city of Santiago was destroyed by an earthquake, a 
calamity from which the Havana and the western parts of the Island 



EARLY COLONISTS AND RULERS. 268 

appear to be exempt. Ledesma complained bitterly to his govern- 
ment that the English authorities in Jamaica countenanced and 
encouraged the attacks of the pirates, and applied for leave to make 
reprisals. He was succeeded by Don Jose Fernandez de Cordoba 
Ponce de Leon, who began his administration in 1680, and continued 
the work of fortification with energy. 

In 1687 Ponce de Leon was replaced by Don Diego de Viana e 
Hinojosa, and to him, in 1689, succeeded Don Severino de Manza- 
neda y Salinas., during whose administration the city of Matanzas 
was founded, the first lines of it having been traced on the 10th of 
October, 1693, in presence of the captain-general, and many other 
persons of distinction. The etymology of the name Matanzas is 
much disputed by the antiquarians of Cuba, some ascribing it to 
the slaughter of Indians at the time of the conquest of the Island, 
contending that the supposed Indian name Yumuri, that of one of 
the two rivers between which the city stands, is in fact a synonym in 
bad Spanish for this general massacre. 

Only One Left to Tell the Tale. 

Others contend, with equal pertinacity, that it was the natives who 
killed the Spaniards, while passing from one side of the bay to the 
other, having mutinied against their masters and used their oars suc- 
cessfully as weapons of offence. Seven of the Spaniards are said to 
have attempted to escape, but were carried prisoners to a neighboring 
Indian town, where the> were all put to death except one, who 
escaped to tell the tale of the Matanza. 

The next captain-general was Don Diego de Cordoba Lazo de la 
Vega; to him in 1702 succeeded Don Pedro Nicolas Benitez de 
Lugo, who died soon after his arrival. The next captain-general was 
Don Pedro Alvarez de Villarin, who arrived in 1706, and died the 
same year. After him, in 1708, came the Marques de Casa Torres, 
ex-governor of the Floridas, who, having had some dispute with the 
auditor Don Jose Fernandez de Cordoba, was suspended from his 
office by the real audiencia. 

The foundling hospital, or Casa de Ninos Espositos. vulgarly called 



270 EARLY COLONISTS AND RULERS. 

La Cuna, was founded in 171 1 by Don Fray Jeronimo de Valdes. an 
institution which still exists, and, like that of St. Pierre in the Island 
of Martinique, is only resorted to by the white inhabitants, the pre- 
sentation of a colored infant being a thing unknown. This fact, 
whether it arise from the sense of shame being stronger in the white 
mother, or from natural affection being stronger in the colored 
mother, is not unworthy of investigation. 

Don Vicente Raja arrived as captain-general in the year 17 16, 
bringing with him a royal cedula, declaring that in the event of his 
absence, illness, or death, the civil and military government should 
be transferred to the teniente rey ; in case of his absence, illness or 
death, to the castellano del Morro ; and failing the castellano, to the 
sergeant-major of the garrison ; and failing him, to the senior captain 
of infantry, so as that in no case the civil and military jurisdictions 
should ever afterward be divided. 

Sent to Madrid in Chains. 

In the following year Raja returned to Spain, and in 1718 Don 
Gregorio Guazo arrived as his successor. Nothing material occurred 
during his administration, and he was replaced in 1724 by Don 
Dionisio Martinez de la Vega. In his time a serious difference arose 
on the occasion of an appointment to the office of lieutenant-governor 
of Santiago. On the 10th of May, 1728, Lieutenant-Colonel Don 
Juan del Hoyo took possession of the local government, and a few 
months afterward a royal ceduJa arrived prohibiting his admission. 
On this the captain-general required his removal ; but the ayunta- 
miento opposed it, saying it was one thing to remove an officer, and 
another not to admit him. Lawyers were consulted on the point; 
and the Court of Chancery of the district was referred to, who 
decided that the ayuntamiento were in the right, and the captain- 
general in the wrong. 

At this juncture the windward fleet, la Armado de Barlovento, arrived 
under the command of Don Antonio de Escudero, who, in his zeal for 
the royal service, and without any authority but that of force, laid 
bold of Del Hoyo, removed him from his employment, and carried 



EARLY COLONISTS AND RULERS. 271 

him oft* to Vera Cruz. No sooner had he regained his liberty than 
he returned to the Island ; and having visited the town of Puerto 
Principe, which at that time formed part of his jurisdiction, the peo 
pie rose against him, and having once more made him prisoner, sent 
him in irons to the Havana, from whence the captain-general had him 
carried to Madrid. 

The next captain-general was Don Juan Francisco Guemes y 
Horcasitas, who arrived in the year 1734, and to him, in 1746, suc- 
ceeded Don Juan Antonio Tineo y Fuertes, who died in the follow- 
ing year. He was the first captain-general who thought it necessary 
to establish a separate hospital for the reception of dissolute and 
incorrigible women; for which purpose the revenues of vacant 
ecclesiastical offices were to be applied. 

Capture of the City by the English, 
The date of the termination of the government of Martinez has 
not been very clearly defined ; he was succeeded provisionally by 
Don Diego de Penalosa, as teniente rey de la plaza, and was replaced 
in 1747 b> Don Francisco Cagigal de la Vega, who had previously 
been lieutenant-governor at Santiago. On leaving the command in 
1760, the government was assumed provisionally by the Teniente 
Rey Don Pedro Alonzo ; and he was relieved, in 1 761, by Don Juan 
de Prado Porto Carrero, whose government was made so memorable 
by the capture of the city by the English. 

The Habaneros themselves seemed desirous to commemorate the 
event by retaining English names for the points of the coast where 
the landing of the expedition was effected, and for the fortresses which 
were occupied preparatory to the descent on the Morro. In the 
Memorias de la Real Sociedad Patriotica there are also some interest- 
ing notices of the event. 

The captain-general, according to some accounts, was apprised of 
the fact that the English were preparing an expedition for the inva- 
sion of the Island ; but although he had made certain arrangements 
lor the reception of the enemy, it is said that he never seriously 
believed that an invasion was about to take place. He made it his 



272 



EARLY COLONISTS AND RULERS. 



business, however, to ascertain what number of men might be relied 
on for the defence of the Island ; and even the proportion of slaves to 
whom arms might be safely intrusted. Juntas were frequently- 
assembled for the discussion of these matters during the three months 
which intervened between the first rumor of the invasion and the 
actual descent of the enemy. 

At length, on the 6th of June, 1762, when a fleet of at least 250 




OLD CATHEDRAL AT HAVANA. 



sail had been reported as offthe coast, the captain-general still refused 
to believe that this was the hostile expedition; insisting that it must 
be a homeward-bound convoy from Jamaica On the morning of 
that day he is said to have gone over to the Morro for the purpose 
of observing in person the movements of the fleet ; and when he found 
that the garrison of the fortress had been called out under arms by 
the teniente rey, Don Dionisio Soler, he expressed his disapprobation 
of the proceeding — declaring it to be imprudent, and desiring that the 
troops might be sent back to their quarters. After mid- day, however, 
he received notice from the Morro that the ships of war were approach- 
ing the coast, and appeared from their manoeuvres to be preparing to 
effect a landing. 



EARLY COLONISTS AND RULERS. 275 

Confounded by his own previous incredulity, the governor at length 
gave orders to prepare for a vigorous defence. The consternation 
produced by the ringing of alarm bells and the moving of artillery 
was extreme. Such of the inhabitants as possessed arms made haste 
to put them in order, and those who were not so provided presented 
themselves at the sala real to ask for them ; but there were only 3,500 
muskets to be found, the greater part of them unfit for service, 
together with a few carbines, sabres, and bayonets. These were soon 
distributed ; but in the end a great number of people remained un- 
armed for the want of needful supplies. 

A Formidable Expedition. 

The juntas were again assembled, consisting of the captain-general, 
the teniente rey, the marques del real transporte, general of marines, 
and the commissary-general, Don Lorenzo Montalvo, to whom were 
added the Conde de Superunda, as viceroy of Peru, and Major-General 
Don Diego Tabares, as Governor of Carthagena, who happened to be 
then at the Havana on their return to Europe. Orders were issued 
by this junta to Colonel Don Carlos Caro to resist the landing of the 
enemy on the beach of Cogimar and Bacuranao, which they seemed 
to threaten ; adding to his own regiment, De Edimburgo, the rest of 
the cavalry then in the city, together with several companies of the 
infantry of the line, and a few lancers, amounting altogether to about 
3.000 men. ^ 

The expedition sailed from Spithead on the 5th of March, 1762. 
Its chief object was, after seizing on the French possessions in the 
West Indies, to make a descent on the Havana, which was justly con 
sidered as the principal key to the vast possessions of the Spanish 
crown in the two great divisions of the American continent; the pos- 
session of which would effectually interrupt all communication be- 
tween the Peninsula and the Gulf of Mexico, and thereby give the 
court of the Catholic king a distaste for the alliance with that of St. 
Cloud. The first rendezvous of the forces to be combined with the 
original expedition was at Martinique, and Sir James Douglas was 

ordered to unite his squadron, stationed at Port Royal, Jamaica, with 

IS 



274 EARLY COLONISTS AND RULERS. 

that of Sir George Pocock, at the Cape of St. Nicholas, in the Island 
of St. Domingo. 

From this point of union the expedition had the choice of two 
courses in proceeding toward the Havana. That which would have 
been the more easy of execution was to sail down the southern 
side of the Island, and doubling the western cape, present itself before 
the Havana. But as this would have occupied more time, which the 
maintenance of secrecy rendered valuable, Sir George Pocock re- 
solved on following the shorter and more difficult as well as danger- 
ous course of the old Bahama channel, on the north side of the 
Island. This resolution had the double effect of taking the enemy 
unprepared, and of obstructing the only course by which the French 
could send relief from St. Domingo. 

On the 27th of May the admiral hoisted his flag, and the whole 
convoys, consisting of 200 vessels of all classes, were soon undei 
sail for the old Bahama passage. The " Alarm " and " Echo " frigates, 
sent in advance, discovered, on the 2d of June, five ships of the enemy, 
the frigate " Tetis," the sloop of war " Fenix," a brig, and two smaller 
vessels. An engagement immediately took place, in the issue of 
which one of the light vessels escaped, the other four being captured. 

On the evening of the 5 th the " Pan " of Matanzas was visible ; and 
on the morning of the 6th, being then five leagues to the eastward of 
the Havana, the necessary orders were issued for the commanders of 
the boats of the squadron and the captains of the transports, with 
regard to the debarkation of the troops. This duty was intrusted 
to the Honorable Commodore Keppel, at whose disposal were placed 
six ships of the line, several frigates, and the large boats of the 
squadron. The admiral followed at two in the afternoon, with thir- 
teen ships of the line, two frigates, the bomb vessels of the expedi- 
tion, and thirty-six store-boats. On presenting himself at the mouth 
of the harbor, for the double purpose of reconnoitering the enemy 
and making the feint of an attack to cover the operations of Commo- 
dore Keppel, he ascertained that twelve ships of the line and a num- 
ber of merchant vessels were lying at anchor within it. 

On the following morning the admiral prepared his launches for 



EARLY COLONISTS AND RULERS. 275 

landing a body of sailors and marines about four miles to the west- 
ward of the Havana. At the same time Lord Albemarle effected the 
landing of the whole of the troops, without opposition, between the 
rivers Bacuranao and Cogimar, about six miles from the Morro. A 
body of men having appeared on the beach, Commodore Keppel 
directed the " Mercury " and " Bonnetta " corvettes to disperse them ; 
but a much greater number having soon afterward presented them- 
selves with the evident intention of disputing the passage of the Rio 
Cogimar with the main body of the expedition, Captain Hervey in the 
" Dragon " was sent to bombard the fort, which afforded the enemy 
protection, but which very soon surrendered, leaving a free passag< 
for the advance of the invaders. 

Resistance to the Invasion. 

From the prisoners taken on the 2d of June in the " Tetis " and 
" Fenix," the presence of a naval force in the harbor became known 
to the English, together with the fact that most of the enemy's ships 
had completed their supplies of water, and were nearly ready for sea. 
Till then the governor, as has been stated, was almost wholly unpre- 
pared. The first notice he had of the actual approach of the expe- 
dition was obtained from the crew of the small schooner, which 
escaped from the pursuit of the " Alarm " and the " Echo." 

As soon as he became convinced of the fact, the governor as we 
have seen, assembled a council of war, composed of the chief officers 
under his command At this junta de guerra the plan of defence 
was arranged, and a firm resolution was taken to resist the invasion 
to the last extremity. The defence of the Morro, on the possession 
of which the fate of the Havana in a great measure depended, was 
intrusted to Don Luis de Valesco, commander of the " Reyna " ship 
of the line, to whose gallantry and perseverance Sir George Pocock, in 
his subsequent report to the admiralty, pays a just tribute of com- 
mendation. His second in command, the Marques de Gonzales, 
commander of the " Aquilon " ship of the line, followed in all respects 
the example of Valesco, dying sword in hand in defence of his flag. 

The defence of the Punta Castle was in like manner assigned to a 



276 EARLY COLONISTS AND RULERS. 

naval officer, Don Manuel Briseno, who had a friend in the same 
branch of the service for his second in command. This arrangement 
gave deadly offence to the officers of the army, who thought them- 
selves unjustly superseded in the post of honor and of danger; but 
it was urged in excuse, that naval officers were better acquainted than 
those of the infantry or the cavalry with the use of artillery ; and as 
the naval squadron had become useless by being locked up in the 
harbor, this was the only way in which they could be advantageously 
employed. 



CHAPTER XXI. 
War with Great Britain. 

BEFORE the Governor could assemble the militia of the Island 
under arms, he thought it necessary to declare war by procla- 
mation against Great Britain. When his whole force was at 
length assembled, it was found in gross numbers greatly to exceed 
that of the invaders. It consisted of nine squadrons of cavalry, in- 
cluding in all 810 men ; the legiment of the Havana, 700; two bat- 
talions of the regiment de Espana, 1400; two battalions of the 
regiment de Aragon, 1400; three companies of artillery, 300; seamen 
and marines of the squadron, 9000; militia and people of color, 
14,000 — making a grand total of 27,610. 

The greater part of the Spanish force was stationed in the town 
T)f Guanabacao, on the side of the bay opposite to the Havana, be« 
tween the points where the invading forces had landed, in order to 
prevent them from turning the head of the harbor and attacking the 
city by land. The British force was divided into five brigades, 
amounting, with detachments from Jamaica and North America, to a 
total of 14,041 land forces. At daybreak, on the 7th, the troops 
were already on board the boats arranged in three divisions — the 
centre commanded by tb^ Honorable Augustus Hervey; the right 
wing by Captains Barton and Drake ; and the left, by Captains 
A.rbuthnot and Jekyl. 

The first brigade was also the first to land ; and as soon as the 
croops had formed on the beach, Lord Albemarle took the com- 
mand, and marched in the direction of the city, which he did without 
further molestation as soon as the Cogimar batteries had been 
silenced. His Excellency established his headquarters in Cogimar 
lb* die night ; the troops were served with rations under arms, and 
several pickets were advanced to the eminences overlooking the 

277 



278 vVAR WITH GREAT BRITAI2*. 

Havana. After a succession of arracks on the part of Lord Albe- 
marle, and a continued bombardment of the castle, the Morro sur- 
rendered on the 30th of July, and the town itself on the 14th of 
August, succeeding. 

The spoils seized by the captors were of great value, and the dis- 
tribution was a subject of much discontent ; and it must be admitted 
that the partition, which gave three or four pounds to a soldier or a 
sailor, whose life was equally exposed with that of his superiors, and 
100.000/. to an admiral or a commander-in-chief, was far from being 
impartial. 

Arrival of Troops. 

The peace having been concluded in 1763, the Conde de Ricla 
arrived at the Havana on the 30th of June, bringing the powers con- 
ferred by the treaty for the restoration of the British conquests in the 
Island of Cuba, and accompanied by General O'Reilly, with four 
ships of the line, a number of transports, and 2000 men for the 
supply of the garrison. On their arrival they were received by the 
English with every demonstration of respect. On the 7th of July 
the keys of the city were formally delivered up to the Conde de 
Ricla, on whom the government had been conferred, and the English 
garrison was embarked on its return to Europe. 

The restoration of the Island to the Spaniards is regarded by the 
native writers as the true era from whence its aggrandizement and 
prosperity are to be dated. It was during the administration of the 
first governor that the new fortresses of San Carlos and Atares were 
erected, and the enlargement and rebuilding of the Morro and the 
Cabanas were begun. The old hospitals were placed on a better 
footing, and new ones were built. The court of accounts, and the whole 
department of finance, received a fresh impulse and a distinct form; 
and an intendant was named, who, among other arrangements, for 
the first time established the aduana, and created a custom-house 
revenue, the duties having been first levied on the 15th of October, 
1764. 

The Conde de O'Reilly, as inspector-general of the army, succeeded 
in organizing and placing on a respectable footing the regular troops. 



WAR WITH GREAT BkiTAIN. 279 

as well as the yiilitia of the Island. The city of the Havana having 
been divided into districts, the streets named, and the houses num- 
bered, the truth came to be known, that the capital contained 
materials for the formation of a battalion of disciplined white militia. 
Beginning with the formation of a single company, the governor 
appointed lieutenants, sergeants, and corporals from the regular troops 
of the garrison, and, after a personal inspection, he followed the same 
course with the other companies. 

New Battalions are Formed. 

Adopting this principle in the other towns of the Island, he soon 
succeeded in realizing his ideas, and creating a considerable force on 
which the government had every reason to rely. When the two 
white battalions of the Havana and Guanabacoa were completed, it 
was still found that, with the addition of the stationary regiment of 
regulars and the other troops of the garrison, there would not be a 
sufficient force for the defence of the capital, so that the idea of 
forming two other battalions presented itself, the one of blacks, the 
other of people of color, and was immediately carried into effect. 

Don Diego Manrique assumed the supreme command in 1765, but 
died within a few months after his arrival. He was succeeded in 
1766 by Don Antonio Maria Bucarelli, who prosecuted with energy 
the construction of the fortifications begun by the Conde de Ricla. 
Bucarely paid great attention to the due administration of justice, and 
was distinguished by the affability of his manners, the facility he 
afforded of access to his person, and the readiness with which he 
heard and redressed the grievances of the people; making it a boast 
that he had succeeded in adjusting differences and compromising 
law suits which had been pending for forty years. 

When afterward appointed viceroy of New Spain, the minister for 
the department of the Indies announced to him, by command of the 
king, as an unexampled occurrence, that during the whole period of 
his administration not a single complaint against him had reached 
the court of Madrid. Another of his merits with the people was the 
gentleness and address with which he effected the expulsion of the 



28C WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 

Jesuits, who had come to the Island with Don Pedro Agustin Morel, 
and had acquired there large possessions. The church attached to 
their seminary is that which is now the cathedral of the Havana. 

On the promotion of Bucarelli in 1771, the Marques de la Torre 
was named his successor, and became one of the most popular 
captains-general who have ever administered the government. He 
was replaced in 1777 by Don Diego Jose Navarro, who introduced 
great improvements in the administration of justice, and the police 
of the tribunals, and in regulating the duties and functions of the 
abogados, escribanos, procitr adores, tasadores, and other officers and 
dependents of the courts of law, in which the greatest abuses had 
previously and have since prevailed. 

Attempt to Recover the Floridas. 

The base and deteriorated coin, which had been for some time in 
circulation, was also called in and abolished in the time of Navarro. 
In the course of the war which had again broken out between 
England and Spain, an expedition was prepared at the Havana for 
the recovery of the Floridas, which produced the surrender of Pen- 
sacola, and the submission of the garrison. This gave rise to a 
belief that the English would make repribals on Cuba or Porto Rico, 
and led to the dispatch of reinforcements on a large scale to the gar- 
rison of the Havana. 

The peace of 1783 soon followed, on which Lord Rodney prepared 
to return to England; and taking the Havana in his way, Prince 
William Henry, afterward William IV., having obtained leave from 
the admiral to go on shore, was so delighted with the city and the 
entertainments that were offered him, that he remained there three 
days, and did not return, if we may believe the Spanish writers, until 
Lord Rodney sent to his royal highness to say, that if he did not re- 
embark immediately, the squadron would set sail, and leave him 
behind. The -Spanish general of marines, Solano, is said to have 
given the prince a breakfast which cost him $4000. 

During the years which immediately succeeded the peace there 
appear to have been other changes in the colonial government besides 



WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 281 

those already noticed, beginning with Don Luis Gonzaga, followed by 
the Conde de Galves, Don Bernardo Troncoso, Don Jose Espeleta, 
and Don Domingo Ceballo. In the time of this first Espeleta there 
was again a great outcry as to the number of lawyers in the colony, 
and particularly at the Havana, where there were already no less 
than eighty-five abogados, with an equally liberal proportion of the 
inferior classes of the profession. 

Steps were taken to prevent their increase, and a regulation was 
enforced on the 19th of November, 1784, prohibiting the admission 
of candidates and the immigration of professors of jurisprudence from 
the other colonies ; and no lawyer who had studied his profession in 
Spain was to be allowed to practice it in the courts of the Island 
until six years at least after he had been called to the bar in the 
Peninsula. 

Brilliant Epoch in Cuba's History. 

Don Luis de las C^sas arrived as captain-general in 1790, and the 
period of his administration is represented by all Spanish writers as 
a brilliant epoch in the history of the Island. To him it is indebted 
for the institution of the Sociedad Patriotica, which has ever since 
done so much to stimulate the activity and promote the improvement 
of education, agriculture, and trade, as well as literature, science, and 
the fine arts, combined with large and liberal views of public policy. 
To Las Casas, also, is the Island indebted for the establishment of 
the Casa de Bcncficcucia, having been begun by a voluntary subscrip- 
tion amounting to $36,000. The female department was at first a 
separate institution, situated in the extra-mural portion of the city, 
but was added to the other on the completion of the buildings in 
1794. 

In place of a monument to Las Casas, which he undoubtedly 
deserved as much as any of his predecessors, an inscription has been 
conspicuously engraved in the common hall of the school for boys, 
declaring that on its erection it had been expressly dedicated to the 
memory of the founder of the institution ; reminding the young 
pupils that he had not only been the founder of the Casa de Bene- 
ficencia, but of the first public library, and the first newspaper which 



282 WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 

had existed in the Island, and of the patriotic and economical society. 
To increase the commercial prosperity of the Island he had the 
sagacity to perceive that his object could not be better accomplished 
than by removing, as far as his authority extended, all the trammels 
imposed upon it by the old system of privilege and restriction. 
During his administration, also, large sums were expended in the 
construction of roads, especially the great Calzada del Horcon and 
the Calzada de Guadalupe ; but since then these highways have 
fallen so completely out of repair, as for the greater part of the year 
to have become next to impassable. 

The Island Desolated by a Hurricane. 

It was Las Casas, also, who introduced the culture of indigo ; and 
during his time the long arrear of causes on the rolls of the courts 
of justice was greatly reduced. The hurricane, which desolated the 
Island on the 21st and 22d of June, 1791 , afforded Las Casas a fresh 
opportunity for displaying the great resources of his mind in the 
promptitude with which he brought relief to the sufferers. In some 
districts the sudden rise of water in the rivers was most extraordinary, 
when the limited extent of land from sea to sea is considered. 

On the bridge then just finished across the Rio del Calabazal the 
water rose to the height of thirty-six feet above the parapets ; and in 
the town of San Antonio, where the wells are sunk into the bed of 
a subterraneous river, the watei rushed up through the artificial 
openings, and inundated the whole country. 

The French Revolution having communicated its irresistible impulse 
to the western parts of St. Domingo, the cabinet of Madrid took the 
alarm, and from the Havana and Santiago, Vera Cruz, the Caracas, 
Maracaybo, and Porto Rico, collected a force amounting altogether 
to 6000 men, the object of which was to suppress the insurrection. 
The sanguinary struggle which ensued, and the reverses which befell 
the Spanish troops, belong to another place. Suffice it here to say, 
by way of memorandum, that the interest of the Spanish Government 
in the Island of St. Domingo was definitely terminated by the treaty 
of Basilea soon afterward concluded with the French republic 



WAR WITH GREA-r BRITAIN. 28.3 

it was to the energetic measures of Las Casas, at the time of this 
revolution in St. Domingo, that the Island of Cuba was indebted for 
the uninterrupted maintenance of its tranquillity, in spite of the univer* 
sal persuasion that a conspiracy had been formed at the instigation 
of the French, among the free people of color, to provoke a similar 
revolution i 1 Cuba. 

Important Changes and Benefits. 

On the occasion of his leaving the Island in December, 1796, a 
formal eulogium on his merits as Captain-General was recorded 'in 
the archives of the Ayuntamiento of the Havana, in which are 
enumerated the great benefits he had conferred on the community ; 
among which the most prominent are the discouragement of gam- 
bling; the arrest of vagrants and vagabonds; the clearing of the jails 
of greater criminals, and the acceleration of the ends of justice in 
civil causes; the abandonment of a large portion of his own emolu- 
ments for the erection and support of the Casa de Beneficencia and 
other charitable institutions ; the reduction and pacification of the 
maroons of Santiago ; the suppression of the conspiracy among the 
people of color ; the prohibition of the introduction of foreign negroes 
who had previously resided in other colonies, and the expulsion of 
those who had arrived from St. Domingo ; the relief of the inhabi- 
tants from the clothing of the militia ; the paving of the streets of the 
Havana; the making and mending of roads ; the building of bridges, 
and the construction of public walks and alamedas ; the erection 0/ 
a convent, a coliseum, a primary school, a school of chemistry, natu- 
ral philosophy, mathematics and botany ; the improvement of the 
Plaza de Toros, and the rejection of the profit which his predecessors 
had derived from the supply of provisions for the troops. 

In this farewell eulogium he is also praised for the very question- 
able virtue of promoting the general prosperity by the copious intro- 
duction of Bozal negroes from the coast of Africa, which is stated to 
have greatly extended the cultivation of the sugar-cane, the bread- 
fruit tree, the cinnamon-tree, and other exotic plants of inestimable 
value. It is more ^asy to sympathize in the praises bestowed upon 



284 WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 

him for the great hospitality he showed to the unfortunate refugees 
from St. Domingo, and for the exertions he made and the liberality 
he evinced in the institution of the Patriotic Society, the formation 
of a public library, the publication of the Diario, and of :he Guia de 
Fcrasteros. 

Las Casas, in 1796, was succeeded in the government by the Conde 
de Santa Clara, whose noble and generous disposition, and the affa- 
bility of his manners, made the loss of his predecessor less sensibly 
feit. It is admitted, however, that he gave no encouragement to 
education, that he had no taste for letters, and that in his time the 
social emulation which had previously prevailed sunk rapidly into 
apathy and indifference. 

A People of Dilatory Habits. 

It is a singular illustration of the dilatory habits of the people, 
and affords a sort of national characteristic, that for many years after 
the formal cession to the French of all interest in St. Domingo, the 
judges who exercised the supreme civil jurisdiction over the Island 
of Cuba and other Spanish settlements continued to reside in the 
ceded territory, so that, in consequence of the recommencement of 
hostilities with England, ail communication by ^ ea was so interrupted 
as to interpose an insurmountable barrier to the exercise of the right 
of appeal, and to the ordinary administration of justice. The royal 
cedula, for the removal of this tribunal to Puerto Principe, is dated 
on the 22d of May, 1797 ; but it does not a~;;ear at what precise date 
the actual translation took place. 

Santa Clara was succeeded, in 1799, by the Marques de Someruelos, 
whose administration continued for a much longer period than the 
five years to which, by the practice, if not by a formal regulation of 
the Spanish government, the term of service of the captains-general 
of the colonies has been usually limited. The public works which 
serve to commemorate the administration of Someruelos are the old 
theatre and the public cemetery ; the execution of which last was 
confided to the bishop, who pursued the object with ?al, and the 
work wis completed on the 2d of February. 1S06. 



WAR WITH 'GREAT BRITAIN. 285 

Its extent is not great, containing only 22,000 square yards ; but 
the walls, the chapel, and the gateway, are on a scale which infers 
thf outlay of a large sum of money. The chapel is ornamented with 
a painting in fresco representing the Resurrection, with the motto, 
" Ecce nunc in pulvere dorrniam." Someruelos was thought by some 
to be stern and severe toward the poorer classes of society, and to 
reserve all his affability and condescension for the rich. On the 
occasion, however, of the great fire of 1802, which destroyed the 
populous suburb of Jesus Maria, leaving no less than 11,300 indivi- 
duals without a roof to shelter them, the Marques, moved by their 
distress, circumambulated the town, going actually from door to door 
to petition for their relief. 

Prospect of Another Invasion. 

The belief again gained ground at the Havana, in 1807, th«£ the 
English government contemplated a descent on the Island ; and 
measures were taken in consequence to put it in a more respectable 
state of defence, although, from want of funds in the treasury, and 
the scarcity of indispensable supplies, the prospect of an invasion was 
sufficiently gloomy. The militia and the troops of the garrison were 
carefully drilled, and companies of volunteers were formed wherever 
materials for them could be found. The French, also, not content 
with mere preparations, made an actual descent on the Island, first 
threatening Santiago, and afterward landing at Batabano. 

The invaders consisted chiefly of refugees from St. Domingo; and 
their intention seems to have been to have taken possession with a 
view to colonize and cultivate a portion ot the unappropriated, or at 
least unoccupied, territory on the south side of the Island, as their 
countrymen had formerly done in St. Domingo. Without recurring 
to actual force, the captain-general prevailed on them to take their 
departure by a peaceful offer of the means of transit either to St. 
Domingo or to France. 

The news of the abduction, by Napoleon, of the royal family of 
Spain reached the Havana by a private opportunity, at the moment 
when the cabildo was in session, when every member of it took a 



286 WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 

solemn oath to preserve the Island for its lawful sovereign. The 
official intelligence did not reach the city till the 17th of July, 1808; 
when it was brought from Cadiz by the Intendant Don Juan de 
Aguilar y Amat, who arrived in the American ship " Dispatch.' 1 
The colonial government immediately declared war against Napo- 
leon ; and on the 20th, King Ferdinand VII. was proclaimed with 
general applause. The intelligence from Spain and the resolution of 
the captain-general were immediately communicated to all the colo- 
nial authorities in Spanish America. 

Pretensions Firmly Resisted. 

The events in the Peninsula soon began to be felt at the Havana ; 
but the demands of the French intruders for the recognition of their 
authority were disregarded, and the public dispatches which came 
from them were destroyed. The Infanta Dona Carlota made similar 
pretensions, but these, like those of the French, were firmly resisted. 

The foreign trade of the Island was reduced to such an extremity 
by the events of the war, that the local authorities of the Havana, the 
ayuntamiento, and the consulado, began seriously to deliberate on 
the expediency of throwing the trade open, and admitting foreign 
supplies on the same terms with these from the Peninsula. There 
was some division of opinion; but the majority were for a free com- 
petition on an equal footing between the Spaniard and the foreigner, 
on the ground that Spain alone was unable to purchase or consume 
the enormous mass of produce then exported from the Island; and so 
it was accordingly decided. 

On the 21st and 22d of March, 1809, a serious disturbance arose, 
the object of which was to invite the return of the French to the 
Island ; but this popular movement, although considered dangerous 
at the time, and viewed with alarm by the captain-general, was 
speedily put down by the display of firmness and resolution on the 
part of all who had anything to lose, and by the prompt offer of their 
personal services for its suppression. Proclamations were issued, a 
respectable force was collected, and the Marques de Someruelos pre- 
sented himself in person to endeavor to pacify the discontented. 



WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 287 

Tranquillity was restored at the end of the second day, with the 
loss of only two or three lives ; but not without the destruction of a 
great deal of property. The French settlers in the rural districts 
were, in this respect, the greatest sufferers ; and it had, in conse- 
quence, the effect of driving away several thousands of laborious and 
intelligent colonists, who were already deeply interested in the pros- 
perity of the Island. 

Soon alter these events a young man arrived from the United 
States, of whose proceedings and character, as an emissary of King 
Joseph, the colonial government had been previously informed. 
This unfortunate person, Don Manuel Aleman, was not even suffered 
to land. The alguazils went on board ; took possession of his papers 
and his person; a council of war was immediately assembled ; but his 
fate was determined beforehand, and on the following morning, the 
13th of July, 1 8 10, he was brought out to the Campo de la Punta, 
and hanged for his temerity. 

The revolutionary proceedings in the continental provinces of 
Spain; --re now in full career toward that independence of the mother- 
country which they have since achieved. In the meantime, the 
Island of Cuba enjoyed a degree of tranquillity quite remarkable 
under the circumstances of the sister colonies. This state of things 
was naturally, and not unjustly, ascribed to the political prudence and 
sagacity of the Marques de Someruelos. The colonial authorities 
petitioned the cabinet of Madrid for the farther prorogation of his 
government beyond the term to which it had been already extended. 

But the very fact of his having given so much satisfaction to the 
colonists, if we may judge from experience elsewhere, was not likely 
to operate with the government of the mother-country in deciding 
on a farther extension of his stay. Instead of acceding to the 
prayer of the municipal functionaries of the Havana, the government 
of Madrid thought fit to mark its sense of the interference by in- 
stantly recalling the title of " Excellencia," which, on a former occa- 
sion, had been granted to the ayuntamiento as a special mark of the 
royal favor, and ot which they were not a little proud. 

The western districts of the Island ^ere visited, in 18 10, by another 



288 WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 

of those tremendous hurricanes, which sweep away so much life avid 
property in these tropical regions. The city of the Havana was filled 
with consternation and dismay ; the hopes of an abundant harvest 
were disappointed ; in the harbor, so renowned for its security, the 
ships of war were driven from their anchors, and no less than sixty 
merchant vessels were destroyed. 

In the time of Someruelos the Casa de Beneficencia was in dangef 
of falling into decay ; but in consequence of his earnest intervention, 
the Junta de Tabacos, which in Spain as in France is a royal mono- 
poly, consented to purchase ioo slaves, whose labor or whose wages 
were to furnish funds for the benefit of the institution; thus by an 
extraordinary perversion making the practice of cruelty and injustice 
toward one portion of the human family contribute to a work of 
charity in favor of another. The slaves were first employed in the 
manufacture of cigars, but have latterly been hired out for daily 
wages at whatever employment they could obtain. 

Outbreak of a Negro Conspiracy. 

A negro conspiracy broke out in 1812, which excited considerable 
alarm in the minds of the landed proprietors. That alarm was 
attended with its usual consequences : The negro leader, Aponte, and 
his associates were treated with unsparing severity, such as may be 
supposed to have been dictated much more by the fears of the hacen- 
dados, than by the strict justice of the case. 

The successor of Someruelos was Don Juan Ruiz de Apodaca, 
ai'terward Conde de Benadito, who arrived on the 14th of April, 1812 ; 
and he, for the first time, combined the command of the naval force on 
the station with the office of captain-general of the Island. This un- 
precedented combination arose from the fear of the authors of the 
constitution of Cadiz, that their work and their representative would 
not be well received in this aristocratical colony His first duty on 
his arrival was to proclaim the constitution ; and although it doubt- 
less excited an extraordinary sensation, it was not openly resisted. 

The success of Apodaca in Cuba led to his promotion to the rank 
of viceroy of Mexico; and on the 1st of July, 1816, he was sue- 



WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 289 

ceeded at the Havana by Lieutenant-General Don Jose Cienfuegos. 
In his time the third census of the Island was accomplished. This 
captain-general made himself exceedingly unpopular at the Havana 
by the severe measures of police he proclaimed and enforced for the 
suppression of projects of sedition, and for the preservation of the 
public tranquillity. 

He resorted to an expedient which in other great cities would 
scarcely have become the subject of serious complaint — he caused 
the streets of the Havana to be lighted ; but this was only a part of 
the proceeding to which the citizens objected. He insisted, also, on 
closing up the public thoroughfares immediately after the conclusion 
of the evening service in the churches ; thus from that early hour 
confining the inhabitants to their own particular quarter of the city, 
and giving rise to clamorous representations and to the very disturb- 
ances which it was the object of the captain-general to prevent. 

Arrival of a Convoy of Troops. 

Senor Cienfuegos was for sometime disabled by personal infirmity 
from the active administration of the government, and during that 
period his functions were performed by Don Juan Maria Hechavarria, 
as cabo subalterno ; but on the 29th of August, 18 19, he was finally 
relieved by the arrival of his successor, Don Juan Manuel Cajigal, 
in the Spanish ship of war " Sabina " with a convoy of troops for 
the supply of the garrison. 

The following year, 1820, from the events which took place in the 
Peninsula, was another period of trial and difficulty for a captain- 
general of the Havana ; but it is admitted by all parties that Cajigal 
succeeded, by the prudence and delicacy of his conduct, in avoiding 
the evils which might have been expected to arise from the difficult 
ard extraordinary circumstances in which he found himself placed. 

The extreme affability of his manners, and the perfect readiness 
with which he received and listened to all who desired to approach 
him, conciliated universal good will ; and it appears that the high 
estimation in which he was held by the inhabitants excited in his 
breast a corresponding feeling, as, on the termination of his com- 
19 



290 WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 

mand, he applied for and obtained the special grace from the king of 
being permitted to take up his permanent abode in the Island ; and 
having retired to the town of Guanabacoa, he died there some time 
afterward, a simple but respected citizen. 

The next captain-general was Don Nicolas Mahy, who arrived 
from Bordeaux in the French frigate " Therese," on the 3d of March, 
1 82 1 ; but such was the turbulence which prevailed in these trouble- 
some times that he proved unequal to the task of controlling the 
storm, and at length sunk under the difficulties which surrounded 
him. He died on the 18th of July, 1822, but retained to the last 
moment of his life the direct administration of the affairs of the 
government. 

Erection of a Famous Temple. 

After his death the government was assumed provisionally by the 
cabo subalterno, Don Sebastian Kindelan; and on the 2d of May, 
1823, the new captain-general arrived, Don Francisco Dionisio Vives, 
who was afterward raised to the dignity of Conde de Cuba. It was 
in his time that the fourth and last census of the Island was accom- 
plished. It was under Vives, also, that the rural militia was organ- 
ized, and that the construction of the fortresses of Bahia-honda, 
Mariel, Jaruco, and the Cabanas was begun or completed. It was he 
who divided the Island into three military departments ; and it was 
under his auspices that the temple was erected on the Plaza de Armas 
of the Havana, on the very spot where, if tradition is to be believed, 
the first Christian rite was performed in the New World. 

It is doubtless with the view of adding to the solemnity of the 
occasion that the temple is opened only once a year, on the anniver- 
sary of the day that Mass was first said there, in the presence of 
Columbus, to return thanks to Heaven for the success which had 
attended his enterprise. It was also in the time of Vives that the 
two lunatic asylums, el Departamcnto de Dementes, were added to the 
Casa de Beneficencia ; and it is recorded of him that he never failed 
to preside at the meetings of the institution, and to animate by his 
presence the drooping zeal of his colleagues in the direction. 

On the 15th of May, 1832, Don Mariano Roquefort took possession 



WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 291 

of the government; and on the ist of June, 1834, he was succeeded 
by Don Miguel Tacon, whose administration terminated on the 16th 
of April, 1838, when Don Joaquin de Espeleta, who had for some 
time resided at the Havana with the rank of sub-inspector-general of 
the troops, and second cabo subalterno, was promoted to the rank of 
captain-general, not provisionally, as had been usual on former occa- 
sions, but como proprietario, to use a form of expression in constant 
use, as applied to public offices in the language of Castile as well as 
in that of France. 

General Espeleta marked his career by a straightforward course, 
strongly exemplified in his putting down all obnoxious and costly 
practices to obtain licenses and passports, which were favored, both 
by those preceding and succeeding him, from sordid and ignoble 
motives. His uprightness could not, however, wash out the political 
stain of his birth; for, by a mere chance, Espeleta was born at 
Havana. He was consequently soon removed, and before the regular 
term of five years, allotted to such offices in Spanish America. 

Met by Opposition. 

The Prince of Anglona, the next captain-general in order of time, 
was a gentlemanly and courteous chief who, after one year's com- 
mand in 1841, left the charge of the Island to the noble-minded Don 
Geronimo Valdez, a man whose whole life had evinced a consistent 
love of liberty, scarcely ever met with in a Spanish soldier, for such 
he was. Being informed that there was a conspiracy on foot, and 
that many young men talked in a revolutionary strain, he answered: 
" I have a powerful army at my command; let the conspirators sally 
forth, and I shall destroy them, but not before." 

This liberality to the Cubans, and his conciliating course toward 
the abolitionist Turnbull, who had landed at an unfortified part of the 
Island, for some sinister purpose, among the blacks ; and more than 
all, his disinterested and faithful observance of the treaties condemn- 
ing the African slave trade, brought on him the unrestrained attacks 
of those engaged or concerned in it as capitalists or officials of gov- 
ernment. He was consequently hurried from his station in the most 



292 WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 

unceremonious manner, and the party who vainly endeavored tt 
injure his name, charging him with motives treasonable to Spain, 
found in his successor a man better disposed to forward their selfish 
and sordid purposes, though for the same reason equally calculated 
to alienate the hearts of the inhabitants. 

Valdez had the courage and honesty to issue, during his short com- 
mand, upward of a thousand grants of freedom illegally withheld by 
his predecessors from so many Africans who, according to the treaty, 
had become free. He left the Palace of the captains-general of Cuba 
in the same high-minded poverty in which he had entered it. 

In 1843, General Leopold O'Donnell took the command of the 
Island, and never was military despotism more successfully directed 
to destroy popular franchises, to establish individual oppression 
beyond the possibility of redress by altering existing institutions, 
and eminently to satisfy the avaricious thirst of the captain-general 
and his family and favorites. The bloody page of the negro insur- 
rection, reported in another part of this work, was the most prominent 
'mature of his governorship. 

Strange Sources of Wealth. 

At the close of one of General O'Donnell's balls, his wife sent for 
the baker who had supplied the entertainment, to come at 3 o'clock 
A. M., to take back the loaves not used ! The baker refused, saying 
that he could not sell them except as stale bread, at a very reduced 
price. To this she replied that she had sent for him at so early an 
hour that he might have the chance of mixing it with the fresh bread 
he was to send around to his customers that morning. She was 
engaged in all kinds of profitable undertakings of the most obscure 
and common pursuits in life ; monopolies of the most repugnant 
character were introduced for her advantage, based on the un- 
bounded authority of a provincial tyrant. The cleansing of the sew- 
ers, and the locality fixed for the reception of the manure and dirt of 
the city were among the many sources of wealth which she did not 
scruple to turn to her advantage. 

But nothing was so fruitful to this family of dealers, as the slave 



WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 293 

trade which, it was publicly asserted, furnished emoluments even to 
the daughter of the captain-general. O'Donnell was part owner of 
the marble quarries of the Isle of Pines, whither he, by his sole 
authority, sent to labor a great number of suspected or accused per- 
sons, without judgment or sentence passed on them. The agency 
for obtaining passports, and other services connected with govern- 
ment, as published in the Havana papers, exhibits a degree of immo- 
rality and defiance of public opinion hardly to be found in any 
civilized country. 

General Frederico Roncali, graced by one of the numerous titles 
which Queen Christina has so profusedly and undeservedly bestowed 
within a very recent period, took the command of the Island in 1848. 
His ridiculous and perplexed action during the movement of the 
Round Island expedition, shows how weak the strength of bayonets 
is, where it is unsupported either by the confidence of the soldiery, or 
tr ' the love of the people for their rulers. 

Spanish Despotism Doomed. 

The idea of marching out 4000 men, and stationing them in the 
central department of the Island, and announcing to the soldiers that 
they were to receive double pay as soon as the enemy landed, 
merely because 400 Americans had taken their abode in an island 
700 miles off, is a tacit acknowledgment of the impending termina- 
tion of Spanish rule in Cuba—that tottering column of European 
despotism in America. General Roncali's incapacity was never 
made more manifest, however, than in his management of the Rey 
affair. Don Cirilo Villaverde, author of a novel entitled " Cecilia 
Valdez," and other literary works, being accused of corresponding 
with the editor of the Cuban paper called La Verdad, was confined to 
the Havana prison during his trial, which he had no reason to expect 
should be fair or favorable in its results to him. 

While there, a fraudulent bankrupt, by name Fernandez, being on 
the eve of escaping, through promises made to the jail-keeper Rey, 
of sharing with him the imaginary spoils of his bankruptcy, Mr. Vil- 
laverde succeeded in availing himself of the same opportunity to fly, 



294 WAR WITH GREAT BRITAIN. 

and save himself, rather than trust to his innocence or the irregular- 
ity and corruption of Spanish military justice. The result, fully 
establishing the moral weakness of a government whose very agents 
turn against it, served to excite the anger and spiteful revenge oi 
Roncali. 

He therefore succeeded, through the consul at New Orleans, Don 
Carlos Espafia, in abducting the jail-keeper, who was thereby des- 
tined to be severely punished, or generously rewarded should he act 
as witness against such influential Creoles as were suspected of dis- 
satisfaction to the Spanish government. It is not necessary to add 
anything further on this subject. The American public are suffi- 
ciently acquainted with the subsequent history of this ominous, sacri- 
legious and insulting act of the authorized menial of a European 
monarch on the heretofore respected soil of America. 

Whatever moral qualities and honest wishes some of the captains- 
general may have possessed, they were compelled to follow out the 
restrictions and spoliations commenced by Tacon. The path of 
despotism, when justified by the national excuse of holding a distant 
colony, must always be one of inevitable and progressive oppression. 

The historical sketch of Cuba is here concluded. The next chap- 
ters are designed to furnish an absrtact of its political history, includ- 
ing a notice of a formidable insurrection, with an account of the 
remarkable policy which has brought the Island to its present 
miserable condition. 



CHAPTER XXII. 
The Tyrannical Rule of Spain. 

PREVIOUS to the eighteenth century, the history of the Island 
of Cuba is mostly occupied with accounts of the settlements 
commenced by the first Governor, Diego Velasquez ; the 
aoble defence of the Cazique Athuei, who was burned alive by order 
of the former; and the usual repartimientos or distribution of the 
territory and Indians among the Spanish settlers, which, through 
excess of labor, hastened the depopulation of the country. During 
that early period is also noticed the sailing of expeditions to more 
recently discovered and alluring regions ; the beginning of the 
African slave trade, and the occasional descent and depredations of 
the buccaneers. The latter were so bold, from the scant population 
and absence of fortifications, that they carried off at one time the 
venerable Bishop Cabezas Altanurano, and at another, the very bells 
of the church and the cannons of the castle at Santiago. 

Soon after the royal decree of 1530, liberating the native Indians, 
the remnants of this unfortunate race appeared to have congregated 
in towns such as Guanabac a, Guaisabana, Ovejas, and Caneyes- 
arriba, and to have applied their efforts to simple husbandry and 
grazing. 

But the advance of Cuba must have been extremely limited or 
doubtful, since the Bishop Almendares estimated the population ot 
all the towns and cities in 161 2 at 6,700 inhabitants. 

The truth lies in the fact that, after having exhausted the Indian 
population, the Island was only held as a military post on the way to 
the mines of Mexico, with little else to occupy its reduced population 
than the raising of cattle on lands not appropriated. Till the latter 
years of the past century, commerce was not only confined to Spanish 
merchantmen, but to the periodical voyage of the fleet belonging to 

295 



296 TYRANNICAL RULE OF SPAIN. 

the privileged India Company. Foreign trade has only been author- 
ized in the present century, when the European wars, forcing the 
Spanish flag from the seas, and the encroachment of contraband 
trade, made it impossible to oppose it. 

In the laws and municipal rights of Cuba, we notice the same in- 
dependent and liberal spirit which prevailed in all the settlements of 
Spain among the Moors, or elsewhere, as far as the Spanish settlers 
and their descendants were concerned. Thus in the sixteenth and 
seventeenth centuries, public assemblies of citizens were held to elect 
the members of the corporations ; free and bold charges were made 
and sustained against governors; and no taxation was permitted 
which was not sanctioned by these bodies, who exercised the same 
prerogatives in the Spanish peninsula, during the long suspension of 
representative government. 

Peculiar Notions and Prejudices. 

As to the commercial restrictions which prevented the growth of 
this beautiful garden of America, they did not originate in any right, 
expressed or implied, to control the fate of Cuba, on the part of the 
European provinces, but in the peculiar notions of the age on 
matters of political economy. Equally injudicious was the system 
observed in the internal trade and relations between the several 
Spanish provinces themselves, whose wealth and physical advance 
are to this day obstructed by antiquated prejudices. Aside, there- 
fore, from the measures adopted to nationalize the commerce and 
trade of Cuba, or rather to direct their course by legislation, there 
was not, until the last twenty years, any serious precedent or open 
effort to justify a difference between the political rights of the Cubans 
and the Spaniards on the soil of Cuba. 

Were the conquest held as the foundation of such difference, the 
privilege should certainly attach to the descendants of those who 
shed their blood and used their means in the acquisition of the coun- 
try — not to the emigration, much less to the salaried officers of the 
government. 

The recognition of the popular princiole in the Sociedad Patriotica 



TYRANNICAL RULE OF SPAIN. 297 

and Consulado, established near the close of the eighteenth century, 
and the vast influence derived therefrom, and which, in after times, 
gave a liberal tinge to the local administration, is especially worthy 
of notice. 

Struggling for her own independence, and boldly confronting the 
ambitious and mighty chieftain of the age, Spain, at the opening of the 
nineteenth century, appeared in a noble attitude. Actuated by the 
most sacred impulses of patriotism, and intensely engaged in the 
wars and policy of Europe, she could not and did not refuse what- 
ever was requested by the Cuban assemblies. 

Loyalty to the Mother Country. 

Cuba, on her part, repaid the liberality of the mother-country by 
an unwavering loyalty. Unseduced by the alluring prospect of inde- 
pendence, and undismayed by repeated invasions from foreign powers, 
she shut her eyes to the former, and boldly resisted the latter, at the 
liberal expense of the treasures of the Island, and the lives of the 
inhabitants. 

This brings us to a period marked by fluctuations in the political 
history of Spain and her dependencies, and it is now to be seen what 
were their effect upon Cuba. 

The political changes adopted in Spain in 1812 and 1820 were 
productive of similar changes in the Island ; and when in both 
instances the constitution was proclaimed, the perpetual members of 
the municipalities were at once deprived of office, and their success- 
ors elected by the people. The provincial assembly was called, and 
held its sessions. The militia was organized ; the press made 
entirely free, the verdict of a jury deciding actions for its abuses; and 
the same courts of justice were in no instance to decide a case a sec- 
ond time. 

But if the institution of the consulado was very beneficent during 
Ferdinand's absolute sway, the ultra-popular grants of the constitu- 
tional system, which could hardly be exercised with quiet in Spain t 
were ill-adapted to Cuba, though more advanced in civilization, 
stained with all those vices that are the legitimate curse of a country 



298 TYRANNICAL RULE OF SPAIN. 

long under despotic sway. That system was so democratic that the 
king was deprived of all political authority. No intermediate house 
of nobility or senators tempered the enactments of a single elective 
assembly. 

This sudden change from an absolute government, with its usual 
concomitant, a corrupt and debased public sentiment, to the full 
enjoyment of republican privileges, served only to loosen all the ties 
of decency and decorum throughout the Spanish community. Infi- 
delity resulted from it ; and that veil of respect for the religion of 
their fathers, which had covered the deformity of such a state of 
society, was imprudently thrown aside As the natural consequence 
of placing the instruments of freedom in the hands of an ignorant 
multitude, their minds were filled with visions of that chimerical 
equality which the world has never yet realized. 

The Rich. Arrayed Against the Poor. 

The rich found themselves deprived of their accustomed influence, 
and felt that there was little chance of obtaining justice from the 
common people (in no place so formidable as in Cuba, from the 
heterogeneous nature of the population), and who were now, in a 
manner, arrayed against them throughout the land. They, of course, 
eagerly wished the return of the old system of absolute rule. But 
the proprietors only asked for the liberal policy which they had 
enjoyed at the hands of the Spanish monarch ; not, mosc surely, that 
oppressive and nondescript government which, by separating the 
interest of the country from that of her nearest rulers, and destroying 
all means of redress or complaint, thrust the last offspring of Spain 
into an abyss of bloodshed and ruin, during the disgusting exercise 
of military rule, in punishing by the vnost arbitrary and cruel mea- 
sures, persons suspected of engaging in an apprehended servile insur- 
rection. 

During the second period of democratic or what was called consti- 
tutional government, which commenced in 1820, the masonic socie- 
ties came into vogue as they did in the mother-country. They 
adopted different plausible pretexts, though, to speak the truth, they 



TYRANNICAL RULE OF SPAIN. 299 

were little more than clubs for amusement and revelry. One of 
them, called the "Soles de Bolivar" went so far as to discuss 
whether, in case of a Colombian invasion, it would be more expedient 
to avoid a collision in the presence of the slaves, by giving way 
peaceably before the invading army. 

Happily for Cuba, and certainly in consequence of the judicious 
interference of the United States, which foresaw in the preservation 
of its tranquillity the advantages of a fruitful commerce, the invasion 
did not take place. The difficulty of annexation, from the lesser 
influence the United States then possessed among nations and the 
controlling importance of the shipping interest in our country, made 
it unadvisable for Cuba to launch into a revolution unsustained, and 
in this way to experience a severe scourge, which, at that time, would 
have proved the principal if not the only fruits of independence to 
the first generation of its recipients. Under any circumstances the 
subsequent jealous policy of the Spanish government has been alto- 
gether unwarranted. 

Schemes to Keep Cuba a Dependent Province. 

A respectable portion of the old Spaniards residing in Cuba, were 
themselves desirous of upholding the constitutional system in the 
Island which they saw tottering in Spain. General Vives, who com- 
manded at that time, regarded the circumstance with anxious solici- 
tude, and very reasonably inferred that, if the constitution of 1812 
was sustained in Cuba after the king's absolute power was acknowl- 
edged in Spain, the consequences would be fatal to its dependence, 
however rational and honest the views of the constitutionalists might 
be considered. 

Hence his strenuous efforts in 1824, after the restoration of Ferdi- 
nand, to make the most of the wild and varying schemes which had 
been proposed in the " Soles de Bolivar" under the democratic insti- 
tutions, and the relaxation of the reins of government. The greatly 
reduced Spanish military force at that time in the Island, and the fact 
that much of it consisted of regular regiments and native militia, are 
sufficient proof that to the solid good sense of the inhabitants, rather 



300 TYRANNICAL RULE OF SPAIN. 

than any show of strength, should be attributed the immediate dis- 
appearance of those germs of disquietude. Not even the weakness of 
General Kindelan could induce the planters to lose sight of their chief 

interest. 

Prosecutions and Imprisonments. 

Though General Vives subsequently desired to impress the con- 
stitutional party with the idea that they might be carried farther than 
they meant to go, and with that view took especial care that a well- 
concerted scheme for throwing off the Spanish yoke should appear 
to have been devised, it must be acknowledged that notwithstanding 
he caused the prosecution and imprisonment of many individuals, 
and occasionally the ruin and misery of their families, he oftentimes 
also interfered to mitigate the appalling and unavoidable excesses of 
those menials of government who are every ready, under such cir- 
cumstances, to exceed the wishes of the leading statesmen, and to 
make political difficulties subservient to the vilest purposes. That 
which should have warned the Spanish ministry of the inexpediency of 
establishing such inappropriate institutions, brought upon the Island 
all its subsequent misfortunes; namely, the Royal Order of 1825. 

By this order Cuba was placed under martial law; and the captain- 
general was invested " with the whole extent of power granted to 
governors of besieged towns." 

The sad effects of this royal order, which the king only meant to 
be observed temporarily, and under a strict responsibility, " le mas 
estrecta responsibilidad," were not immediately felt. " Truth and 
justice compel me to assert," says one of the most enlightened 
Cubans, on being rejected from the Cortes, in common with all the 
deputies from the province, " that notwithstanding the terrible 
authority conferred on the captain-general by this royal order, Vives, 
who then held that office, far from putting it in execution during 
his long government, discovered that its application would be equally 
disadvantageous to Cuba and Spain. Under a mild and conciliatory 
policy this Island became the refuge of many unhappy pro-scripts, 
who were expelled from the Peninsular territory by the arm of 
tyranny." 



TYRANNICAL RULE OF SPAIN. 301 

The judicious administration of the Count Villanueva, which had 
undoubtedly an influence materially advantageous to the country, was 
likewise calculated to make every one forget the depressed political 
condition to which the new law had reduced the inhabitants of Cuba. 
Under its fearful and comprehensive provisos, since become the 
scourge of the land, public bodies were respected. Some of them 
constantly consulted together on grave subjects, such as the rural 
and domestic police for the management of slaves, the imposition of 
taxes and judiciary reform, and enjoyed the privilege of printing 
their reports, without applying for the consent of the executive 
officers ; and the press was moreover very far from being restricted 
as it now is. 

The Problem of Slavery. 

As a proof that the political servitude created by the royal order 
of 1825 was not intended to be permanent, an extract is made from 
an article on the clangers of the slave trade, published in a periodical 
of Havana, in 1832, under the despotic government of Ferdinand, 
and seven years after issuing the royal order above referred to. 
Immediately following a very precise detail of facts, of the numbers 
of imported slaves, and of the relative position of the races, we read : 

"Thus far we have only considered the power which has its origin 
in the numbers of the colored population that surrounds us. What 
a picture we might draw, if we were to portray this immense body 
acting under the influence of political and moral causes, and present- 
ing a spectacle unknown in history ! We surely shall not do it. But 
we should be guilty of moral treason to oui country, if we were to 
forget the efforts now making to effect a change in the condition of 
the African race. 

'* Philanthropic laws, enacted by some of the European nations, 
associations of distinguished Englishmen, periodicals solely devoted 
to this subject, eloquent parliamentary debates whose echoes are 
constantly repeated on this side the Atlantic, bold exhortations from 
the pulpits of religious sects, political principles which with lightning 
rapidity are spreading in both hemispheres, and very recent commo- 
tions in several parts of the West Indies, everything is calculated t3 



302 TYRANNICAL RULE OF SPAIN. 

awaken us from our profound slumber and remind us that we must 
save our country. And should this our beloved mother ask us what 
measures we have adopted to extricate her from her danger, what 
would those who boast themselves her dutiful sons, answer ? 

" The horrid traffic in human blood is carried on in defiance of the 
laws, and men who assume the name of patriots, being no other thai\ 
parricides, cover the land with shackled victims. And as if this were 
not sufficiently fearful, with criminal apathy, Africans freed and 
brought to this country by English policy, are permitted to reside in 
our midst. How different the conduct of our neighbors the Ameri- 
cans ! 

Political Situation in the United States. 

" Notwithstanding the rapid increase of their country ; notwithstand- 
ing the white has constantly been four-fifths more numerous than the 
colored population, and have ten and a half millions to offset two 
millions ; notwithstanding the importation of the latter is prohibited 
from one end of the republic to the other, while European immigra- 
tion is immense ; notwithstanding the countries lying upon their 
boundaries have no slaves to inspire dread, they organize associations, 
raise funds, purchase lands in Africa, establish colonies, favor the 
emigration of the colored population to them, increasing their exer- 
tions as the exigency may require, not faltering in their course, and 
leaving no expedient untried which shall prove them friends of 
humanity and their country. Not satisfied with these general meas- 
ures, some states have adopted very thorough and efficient measures. 
In December, 183 1, Louisiana passed a law prohibiting importation 
of slaves even from other states of the Union. 

" Behold the movement of a great people, who would secure their 
safety! Behold the model you should imitate! But we are told, 
'Your efforts are vain. You cannot justly reproach us. Our plan- 
tations need hands, and if we cannot obtain negroes, what shall we 
do ?' We are far from wishing to offend a class equally deserving 
respect and esteem, including many we are happy to call friends. 
We are habitually indulgent, and in no instance more so than in that 
before us. The notions and examples to which they have been 



TYRANNICAL RULE OF SPAIN. 303 

accustomed, justify in a great measure the part they act, and an 
immediate benefit and remote danger authorize in others a course of 
conduct which we wish may never be generally and permanently 
adopted. We would not rudely censure the motives of the planters. 

" Our mission requires us only to remark, that it is necessary to 
adopt some other plan, since the change in politics is inconsistent with 
and hostile to the much longer continuance of the illicit traffic in 
slaves. We all know that England has, both with selfish and humane 
motives, made and is still making great efforts against it by means of 
treaties. She is no longer the only power thus engaged, since France 
is also taking her share in the enterprise. 

" The United States will soon appear in the field to vindicate down- 
trodden humanity. They will adopt strong measures, and persever- 
ingly pursue the pirate negro-dealer. Will he then escape the vigi- 
lance of enemies so active and powerful ? And even should some 
be able to do so, how enormously expensive must their piracy be ! 
It is demonstrable that the number of imported negroes being then 
small, and their introduction subject to uncommon risks, their cost 
would be s^» enhanced as to destroy the motive for preferring slave 
labor. 

" A proper regard to our true interests will lead us to consider 
henceforth other means of supplying our wants, since our present 
mode will ultimately paralyze our resources and be attended with 
baneful consequences. The equal distribution of the two sexes in 
the country, and an improved treatment of them, would alone be suf- 
ficient, not merely to prevent a diminution of their number, but greatly 
to increase it. But the existing disproportion of the sexes forbids 
our indulging in so pleasing a hope. We shall, however, do much to 
effect our purposes by discontinuing certain practices, and adopting a 
system more consonant to the good principles that should be our 
guide. 

" Would it not be advisable to try some experiments that we may 
be able to compare the results of cultivating cane by slaves, with such 
other method as we may find it expedient to adopt ? 

" If the planters could realize the importance of these propositions 



804 TYRANNICAL RULE OF SPAIN. 

to their welfare, we should see them striving to promote the introduc- 
tion of white and the exclusion of colored hands. By forming asso- 
ciations, raising funds, and in various ways exerting themselves 
vigorously in a cause so eminently patriotic, they would at once 
overcome the obstacles to the introduction of white foreigners, and 
induce their immigration by the guarantees of good laws and the 
assured tranquillity of the country. 

A Serious Emergency. 

" We may be told that these are imaginary plans, and never to be 
realized. We answer that they are essays, not difficult or expensive, 
if undertaken, as we suggest, by a whole community. If we are not 
disposed to make the voluntary trial now, the day is at hand when we 
shall be obliged to attempt it, or abandon the cultivation of sugar. 
The prudent mariner on a boisterous ocean prepares betimes for the 
tempest and defies it. He who recklessly abandons himself to the 
fury of the elements is likely to perish in the rage of the storm. 

'"How imprudent,' some may exclaim, 'how imprudent,' to pro- 
pose a subject which should be forever buried in ' lasting oblivion ! ' 
Behold the general accusation raised against him who dares boldly 
avow new opinions respecting these matters Unfortunately there 
is among us an opinion which insists that ' silence ' is the true policy. 
All feel the evils which surround us, are acquainted with the dangers, 
and wish to avoid them. Let a remedy be suggested and a thousand 
confused voices are simultaneously raised ; and a significant and im- 
ploring ' Hush ! ' — ' hush ! ' is heard on every side. 

"Such infatuation resembles his who conceals the disease which is 
hurrying him to speedy death, rather than hear its unpleasant history 
and mode of cure, from his only hope, the physician's saving science. 
Which betrays censurable apathy, he who obstinately rushes head- 
long to the brink of a mighty precipice, or he who gives the timely 
warning to beware? Who would not thus save a whole community 
perhaps from frightful destruction ? If we knew most positively that 
the disease were beyond all hopes of cure, the knowledge of the fact 
would not stay the march of death, while it might serve but as a ter- 
rifying annunciation of his approach. 



TYRANNICAL RULE OP SPAIN. 305 

" If, however, the sick man is endowed with a strong constitution, 
that with timely prescription promises a probabie return of health, it 
would be unpardonable to act the part of a passive spectator. We 
heed not that the selfish condemn, that the self-admiring wise cen- 
sure, or the parricidal accuse us. Reflections of a higher nature guide 
us, and in the spirit of our responsible calling as a public writer, we 
will never cease to cry aloud, ' Let us save our country — let us save 
our country! ' " 

Nothing would more forcibly illustrate the rapid encroachment of 
despotism in the Island than the publication of a document like the 
above, or anything discreditable, or disparaging to the slave- dealers. 
Whoever should dare make the experiment, would most certainly do 
it at the risk of his life. Further comment on the progress of tyranny 
is unnecessary 



20 



CHAPTER XXIII. 
A Wily Old General. 

NOT to lose sight of the order of events, it must be borne in 
mind that immediately after the overthrow of the constitution, 
and precisely at the time the persecution for revolutionary 
opinions commenced under the order of 1825, the country was in 
its most flourishing and healthy period. The fruits of the several 
acts for promoting the country's welfare and the development of its 
resources, which owed their origin to corporations, before they had 
lost their vitality, had been gathered. Moreover, the judicious and 
liberal policy already described was continued by the intendant, who 
could then act with great independence. As chief of the financial 
department, the Count de Villanueva regulated the mode of keeping 
accounts, corrected abuses, introduced greater simplicity in the col- 
lection of taxes, and established several facilities beneficial to the 
merchants. 

By means of his great influence at Madrid, he was enabled to 
supersede the captain-general in the presidency of the consulado, and 
directing the labors of that body, he made them subserve the develop- 
ment and improvement of the country. Availing himself of the 
general wealth, and of the increasing agriculture of the Island, he 
daringly taxed its products, and it is generally believed that it was 
during his administration, taxes of various kinds were imposed for 
the first time without the consent of those to be affected by them. 
He represented " de facto " the people of Cuba ; was the chief fiscal 
agent ; the friend and adviser of the captain-general ; the favorite of 
Ferdinand's government. 

A skillful and mighty authority like his could, at such a period, 
draw abundant resources from the country for the metropolis, and 
promote at the same time the interests of the former by reforming 
306 



A WILY OLD GENERAL. 307 

abuses. To both these objects were his exertions successfully 
directed. To his discriminating judgment it was very evident that a 
, vast territory, capable of great agricultural production, could not 
maintain its position, much less make progress, should its commerce 
be again limited to the mother-country. He was aware that the 
probable results of such limitation would be the total annihilation of 
the surplus revenue, of which they were so desirous at court ; the 
immediate paralysis of agriculture, the fountain of the Island's wealth; 
and a very extensive contraband trade. 

Public Improvements. 

Villaneuva had the waters of the Husille brought into the city 
by a well-devised though costly plan ; the roads near Havana maca- 
damized, and a mud-machine erected to clear the anchorage and 
preserve the wharves. He established the more modern and rational 
system of selling at auction to the lowest bidder the performance of 
various services, particularly for the government or the public. He 
enlarged the Spanish navy from the navy-yard of Havana ; the 
regular intercourse between the two countries by mail packets was 
his suggestion, and the Giiines railroad is a crowning, ever-memor- 
able and enduring monument of his enterprise and genius. 

Amidst these improvements, beneficial to Spain and the Island, 
the count was enabled to make frequent and heavy remittances to 
the general treasury in Spain, which was so received by them that 
the demands were gradually augmented without any regard to the 
means of meeting them, and the inevitable consequence was the 
sacrifice of the necessities of the Island to the urgency of their pay- 
ment. Thus it happened that the Bank of St. Ferdinand, the estab- 
lishment of which was one of the acts which do honor to Villanueva, 
had no opportunity of doing any service to the public, r.s its capital 
was specially sent for from Madrid. 

In brief, Count Villanueva's administration can ir. no way be better 
appreciated than by bearing in mind that whatever liberal and en- 
lightened views hv. carried into practical effect, he had nothing similar 
to guide him or excite his emulation in all the Spanish territory. 



308 A WILY OLD GENERAL. 

His power in Cuba was great, his influence in Madrid had no equal, 
and his credit abroad was such that his promise and acceptance was 
a source of revenue at court. The authority of the Captain-General 
himself being eclipsed by his, it is certainly no matter of surprise that 
public bodies and individuals should have sunk into insignificance. 

It was in such a state of political weakness and general prosperity 
that the enactment concerning the holding of property, which was 
the first liberal act of Christina's regency, found Cuba. Under it the 
inhabitants of the Island observed, as they always had done, the laws 
promulgated in the mother country. A number of members were 
added to the municipalities, equal to the number of hereditary mem- 
bers, and the former were by express proviso to be individuals who 
were highest on the tax list. Thus formed, these corporations elected 
the deputies who represented the interests of the Island at the Spanish 

Congress. 

Deprived, of Deputies to Madrid. 

This slight political change, which enabled the corporations of 
Havana, Santiago de Cuba, and Puerto Principe to name three depu- 
ties in the "estamentos " without other free institutions, was certainly 
not calculated to alarm the royal authority, however jealous it might 
be supposed. Three votes, more or less, could not of course cause 
any uneasiness ; but it is ever the consequence of free institutions, in 
just proportion to their worth, to diminish the importance of individ- 
uals. Here, then, was one of the causes of that strenuous opposition 
so successfully exerted to deprive the Island of deputies to Madrid. 

Such a refusal, where there is an immense amount of productive 
capital to be benefited or injured, or destroyed by the enactments of 
government, and where the colony is not even allowed delegates to 
represent its interests at court, has no parallel in any civilized country 
professing to approve of liberal institutions. 

The Island was at that time governed b > General Tacon, whose 
short-sighted, narrow views, and jealous and weak mind, were joined 
to an uncommon stubbornness of character. Never satiated with 
power, it was through his influence that the wealthy portion of the 
community was divested of the privileges conferred on them by the 



A WILY OLD GENERAL. 309 

estatuto. He even deprived the old municipalities of Havana of the 
faculty of naming the under-commissaries of police. 

In his own immodest report of his reign, as it was justly termed, 
he enumerated the very extensive and costly buildings and public 
works he had constructed, and from the singular manner in which he 
accounts for procuring the ordinary means, we must suppose he had 
the power of working miracles. To sustain his absolute government 
by trampling on every institution, was the necessary consequence of 
his first violent and unjustifiable act. It was consequential upon his 
own and his followers' efforts. 

Outrages on Personal Liberty. 

For any power, any institution, not dependent on the palace of the 
captain-general, might be the means of denouncing abuses, of expos- 
ing the real deformity of his and their pretended patriotism ; and 
the numberless parasites whose interest ever was to blind the royal 
eyes, magnified tlr; virtues of their hero, while they were rapidly 
accumulating fortunes at his side. In order to obtain credit in the 
man' gement of the police, he displayed a despotic and even Drutal 
activity in the mode of exacting from the under-officers, distributed 
in the several wards of the city, under personal responsibility, the 
apprehension and summary prosecution of criminals. They soon 
found that there would be no complaint, provided they acted vigor- 
ously and brought up prisoners. So far from presuming their inno- 
cence, or requiring proof of their crimes, those who were once 
arrested were put to the negative and difficult task of proving their 
innocence. The more unwarrantable the acts of his subalterns the 
more acceptable to him, since they, in his opinion, exhibited the 
energy of his authority. They trembled in his presence, and left it 
to persecute, to invent accusations, to imprison, and spread terror 
and desolation among the families of the land ! 

It is but just to add, that the banditti and thieves and professed 
gamblers were terrified by his sweeping scythe, and became much 
more modest than they had been during the brief government of the 
" f eak and infirm General Roquefort, the predecessor of Tacon. The 



310 A WILY OLD GENERAL. 

timid and short-sighted merchant who perceived this reform, did not 
comprehend or appreciate the illegality of the system, nor its per- 
nicious effects on the future destinies of the country, and was the 
first to justify the man who dared interpose himself between the 
Spanish monarchs and their subjects, to silence every complaint of 
the latter, and to say to the former, " You shall never hear the peti- 
tions of your American vassals contrary to my pleasure." 

The political servitude at that moment implanted in the country 
was new, and of course excited discontent, which was not unfrequertly 
vented in the random conversation of young men. 

Poor Carlist Prisoners. 

The consequence of all this was, a regular system of espionage. 
The prisoners were distributed in the castles, because the jails were 
insufficient to contain them. In the dungeons were lodged nearly six 
hundred persons, the cause of whose detention nobody knew ; a fact 
authentically proved by a casual circumstance. In the streets, in the 
highways and fortresses, under a scorching sun, and during the 
unhealthy season, the poor Carlist prisoners, having surrendered 
themselves, trusting to the faith of liberals, were suffered to sicken 
and sink miserably into a premature grave. 

Let it not be supposed, however, that his political persecution was 
confined to the enemies of the liberal institutions then existing in 
Madrid. The contrary may be adduced from the inconsiderate pro- 
tection extended by him to the famous friar Cirilo Alrneda, of whose 
machinations he appeared to approve, and from the fact that events 
favorable to the queen were at a certain period not permitted to 
appear in the distorted press of Havana. 

His creed was soon ascertained. He considered those whom he 
thought likely to tear the veil from his tyranny, the veritable traitors, 
the enemies of the throne, and the advocates of independence in 
Cuba. He destroyed all freedom of discussion in the municipal 
body, usurped its powers, and frightened away such members as he 
thought would not bend sufficiently to his will. He constructed an 
enormously high, massive, level road through the widest avenue of 



A WILY OLD GENERAL. 311 

the city, which has since been removed, at the expense of the same 
suffering community who had to pay for its erection, and to suffer its 
unhealthy effects while it remained. 

General Tacon moreover established a privileged market for selling 
meat and fish, to the detriment of the public and the public revenue, 
and for the profit of himself and his nearest friends. Among other 
things it will there be seen how a man living at the table and board 
of Tacon, was subsequently found to be interested in the contract 
for the meat and fish market, without its being absolutely binding 
on him to perform the condition of paying in his amount of 
stock in order to be entitled to his share of the profits, which he 
did nevertheless receive. 

A System of Robbery. 

It will likewise be found that the party to that contract was illegally 
preferred to the more regular bidders. It may further be ascertained 
from that work that when the contractors obtained the grant and 
commenced exacting unauthorized fees, to the great injury of the 
public, a suit was instituted to investigate and reform the abuse at 
the tribunal of one of the alcaldes, and that the record was claimed 
and taken possession of by Tacon, who was charged with causing it 
to disappear, as it was stated in his successor General Espeleta's 
official answer, that it was not to be found in the archives of the cap- 
tain-generalship. 

Notwithstanding General Tacon's efforts at the first election under 
the estatuto, the voice of his Excellency Don Juan Montalvo y Cas- 
tillo was raised in Madrid at the Cortes, and the misconduct of the 
former partially exposed. As it continued, Messrs. Armas and Saco 
were named for the second congress during his government, both 
very enlightened and able men, well acquainted with the circum- 
stances, and friendly to the welfare of the Island, and as much 
opposed to the ultra-liberal or revolutionary ideas as desirous of 
removing from the Spanish peninsular government the shame and 
discredit of such lawless proceedings on the part of the chief metro- 
politan authority. 



312 A WILY OLD GENERAL. 

To discover imagined conspiracies, to commence suits blindly 
approved by his assessor, to expatriate, to vex, to imprison the 
citizens, these were Tacon's noble exploits. His artful reports found 
credit at court. He was therefore continued in his government, and 
the Spanish Cortes in 1836, by a majority exceeding thirteen votes, 
shut their doors, which had always been opened to American repre- 
sentatives, against the deputies of the Island, then elected and at 
Madrid. They were obliged to return without being allowed the 
privilege of uttering their grievances. This was the single but serious 
act of usurpation which robbed the descendants of the Island's con- 
querors of all interference in its administration and tributary system. 

Some time after the oath to the constitution had been taken at 
Madrid in 1837, the Spanish General Lorenzo, commanding in St. 
Jago, encouraged by the encomiums and rewards conferred in former 
times and in similar instances, on such authorities as first followed 
the impulse given at the court of a political change, thought it his 
duty to conform to the plan most approved by all parties, royalist or 
liberal, viz. : to repeat the cry raised at the seat of government. 

Brazen Display of Authority. 

He therefore proclaimed the constitution. The wily old general 
who had so successfully deprived the country of all representative or 
delegate system, would not of course very quietly allow his fabric to 
be leveled to the ground. He made an ostentatious display of his 
authority, and though well satisfied of the pacific views of the eastern 
part of the Island, insisted upon fitting out an expensive expedition, 
which cost the inhabitants more than $500,000, and would have it 
proceed, notwithstanding that the commissioners sent by Lorenzo 
made a formal promise that the eastern part of the Island should pre- 
serve their system until the Queen decided, or would obey at once 
Tacon's order to annul the constitution, provided an amnesty were 
granted for the single act of proclaiming the same, their sole offence. 

General Tacon again made use of his favorite weapon against the 
Islanders, applying it to General Lorenzo and the intendant of 
Havana, by perfidious sup-^estions calculated to imoair their well- 



A WILY OLD GENERAL 313 

proven loyalty to their sovereign. Such improbable stories, the ill- 
disguised animosity of his passionate language, the cognizance by 
some impartial Peninsular tribunals of some of his grossly-imagined 
plans of conspiracy, all had an influence to force the Spanish court 
to acknowledge, without, for reasons of policy, publicly avowing it, 
the irregular and disorderly course of Tacon's administration, and he 
was removed from office. 

The removal of General Tacon is said to have been effected by a 
compromise between the ministry and Olivar, acting as agent for 
Villaneuva, in which the rights of the Cubans were sacrificed to the 
latter's personal ambition. It was then agreed that no political 
assembly, or any rights whatever, should be allowed the Cubans, but 
that Tccon should be removed. This discreditable compromise was 
the undoubted origin of the immediate discontent and subsequent 
rapid adoption of the principle of annexation through the Island. 
Nothing was more efficient in drawing the mask from his face than 
the unskillfulness of Joaquin Valdez, his standing conspiracy-witness 
and confidential agent, who in framing one of his plans got into a 
strange dilemma by apprehending the intendant of Cadiz, and other 
respectable old Spaniards, supposed to be concerned in the plot. 

It should be mentioned, to the honor of the Spanish name, that at 
the subsequent sittings of the Cortes, and before the removal of 
Tacon, as if the injuries which had been inflicted on Cuba called for 
immediate redress, it was generally admitted as a matter of course, 
what has since been artfully withdrawn from the sight of the con- 
gress, that the political condition of that distant colony should be 
attended to and ameliorated without delay. 

A generous and high-minded Spaniard, Don Antonio Benavide, 
equally loyal to his country and desirous of the welfare of its inhabi- 
tants, clearly and ably insisted upon the adoption of any system in 
lieu of the omnipotence of the Captain-General. But the zeal and 
high sense of justice entertained by the congress could give no relief, 
where the agents of the local government were active, and the 
oppressed country had no delegates to maintain her rights. 

The only result was a royal order authorizing Tacon to call a junta t 



314 A WILY OLD GENERAL. 

which he took care should be formed to his liking generally, com- 
posed of authorities named by government, in its pay, with three or 
four private individuals among the general's pliant tools. This junta 
was to propose special laws for the government of the Island. The 
consequence was exactly what might have been expected. The chief 
soon perceived that, however yielding the members might be, they 
must draw up some rules ostensibly to restrain his untamed will, or 
txcite the ridicule of even the Spanish court. 

After calling together and dispersing them instantly, under a show 
of separating them into committees, he rendered the whole attempt 
inefficient, and feigning fear of danger from the plots of the white 
population, caused every feeling of justice to Cuba to be forgotten in 
Spain. The only proposition which seems to have transpired from 
the sitting of that strange, transitory, and expensive junta, was to 
make the Island a vice-royalty and Tacon vice-king. Ludicrous as 
as it may appear, it is no less true. 

Black Men in British Uniform. 

Notwithstanding it was under free institutions that Spain granted 
the establishment of the mixed Anglo-Spanish tribunal at Havana, 
for the cognizance of prizes taken from the African trade, it was 
when the public bodies of the Island were without sufficient energy 
to raise their spontaneous protest on political questions, that the Cas- 
tilian name was humbled by the floating fortress which the English 
anchored in the port of Havana, as a rallying signal for the blacks, 
openly and malignantly avowed, and sufficiently evident from the 
fact that it was manned by black men in British uniform 

These soldiers, distributed in the heart of the city, the greater 
/.umber liberated from slave-ships by the tribunal, who both during 
and subsequently to their apprenticeship were left in the country in 
direct communication with their bond-brethren, were the first instru- 
ments of spreading discontent among the slave population. Very 
far from independent, and from representing the interest of the 
wealthy planters, must have been the public bodies of the Island, 
who thus patiently saw the germs of violent insurrection sown broad- 



A WILY OLD GENERAL. 313 

tast over the land, without most earnestly assailing the Spanish 
ministry with their complaints. 

It was not, however, until about the year 1835 that the dispropor- 
tion of the races became alarming. In 1837 General Tacon received 
an official communication from Madrid, enclosing a copy of a note 
from the Spanish minister at Washington, containing a vivid picture 
of the dangers to Cuba from the abolition efforts making in the 
United States and generally all over the world. He who had heed- 
lessly given new life and development to the policy which Vives had 
only partially unfolded, and which consisted in separating the old 
Spaniards from the natives, was now made to feel that the co-opera- 
tion of the country's bourgeoisie, in all their united effort, was requi- 
site to oppose the encroachments of the abolitionists. 

Immediate Danger. 

The exposition of the minister at Washington, though abounding 
with contradictory opinions, was, in the main, exact. It predicted 
immediate danger. No public bodies existing which could be con- 
sidered as emanating even indirectly from the people, rich or poor, he 
having discredited and crushed all such institutions, what could he 
do ? He contrived to call a general meeting of the planters in the 
city of Matanzas, whose very judicious report provided for domestic 
and rural government, material defence, and funds to carry their plans 
into effect. The colonization of the Island by white inhabitants, 
which had been unlawfully terminated, was demanded by this meet- 
ing of planters, who also insisted upon the establishment of a rural 
militia. 

In consequence of these requisitions, their resolutions on the first 
were not carried into execution. The immigration of whites has 
been materially obstructed by an influential party, who consider it 
hostile to the introduction of laborers more consonant to their taste 
and interest. General Valdez was latterly named captain-general, an 
honest and generous soldier, whose memory is still dear to the liberal 
party in Spain, wearing many honorable marks of worth, grey in the 
service of his country, but his capacity undoubtedly impaired by age, 



316 A WILY OLD GENERAL. 

joined to a general ignorance of the colonies and of political affairs, 
common to all the military as a class. 

A person observing the progress of English pretensions respecting 
Cuba, would certainly conclude that Lord Palmerston had himself 
chosen such a man, who, though beyond the reach of bribery, and 
incapable of willful wrong to his country, was, from his weakness, a 
suitable and manageable instrument. Let it, however, be said in his 
praise, that he had occasion to show that when the captain-general 
should choose to put an end to the slave trade, it would be in his 
power to do so. 

Soon after his arrival, a series of by-laws made for the government 
of the slaves was published, wherein, instead of providing for the real 
circumstances of the occasion, the dominical rights of the master 
were suddenly attacked, yet not so much, perhaps, by their positive 
provisos, as by the appearance of interference at a period when the 
restlessness and uneasiness of the blacks required measures of an 
entirely contrary nature. The management of a slave country is 
always a difficult matter. To avoid the commission of great errors, 
in the condition of Cuba, would have been scarcely less than 
miraculous. 

The actual feelings of the blacks could not, with certainty, be 
ascertained by individuals who had either recently arrived from 
Spain, or never attended on the estates but for a kw moments, or 
during excursions of pleasure. Thus it happened, that many judi- 
cious planters, judging from the small and gradual changes in the 
domestic life of the blacks, foresaw the coming storm for years, while 
1 the government agent could not comprehend, and resolutely refuted, 
such opinions as they thought unnecessarily alarming, and decidedly 
against their interest in the African trade. 

Mr. Turnbull, the English consul, who, from his European reputa- 
tion, would never have been allowed to occupy the post of consul at 
Cuba, had the Cuban proprietors had an organ of complaint, other 
than the government agents, concerted incendiary plots, and boldly 
followed them, notwithstanding the timely interference of Garcia, one 
of the governors of the city of Matanzas. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 
Record of Atrocious Deeds. 

SEVERAL incidents might be named, evident precursors of an 
insurrection, which, for many years before the repeated 
attempts, demanded a change in the system of the whole 
Island ; a change which would have taken place under a government 
having the means and disposition to ascertain the true state of things 

For the better understanding of the subject, it must be remem- 
bered that the ancient balance of influence established by the Spanish 
law between the military class and the judicial or lettered part of the 
community, had been altogether lost; the former having been 
intrusted with every branch of the administration, even to the making 
of by-laws for the black slave population, which was submitted to 
the control of government agents, perhaps under the direction of 
their allies, the slave-dealers. 

At the same time an ominous policy commenced ; the colored 
inhabitants were particularly favored ; had numerous meetings, called 
cabihios, and enjoyed even greater privileges than the whites — being 
formed into military bodies for public defence, whereas the whites 
could not form a militia for their own safety, even in moments of 
pressing danger, and in those places where the disproportion of the 
races was most frightful. 

Laws were enacted purporting to alleviate the condition of the 
slaves ; an apparent protection, calculated more to harass the owner 
than to realize the improvement of the former, without any attempt 
to instruct cither. This was acompanied with the continuation of 
the slave trade, and the barbarous political oppression of the native 
Creoles, whose every thought was looked upon with jealous suspicion. 
It seemed evident that the policy consisted in placing the lives and 
property of the inhabitants of Cuba in such imminent danger as to 

317 



318 RECORD OF ATROCIOUS DEEDS. 

choke any feeling of resentment respecting the political changes 
which the Spanish government adopted for the exclusive advantage 
of the metropolitan part of the community. 

Thus was the dissatisfaction of the blacks fostered. How else can 
be explained the cause of the progress made in the Island in that 
respect, and not in those slave-holding countries which surround it, 
and which, having a more frightful disproportion in numbers between 
the races, and greater freedom in the press and institutions, were 
withal enjoying comparative tranquillity ? 

Threatened War of Races. 

The bonds between master and slave were gradually severed ; the 
affections destroyed ; the mutual relations of the races, for which the 
Spaniards had been always distinguished, were broken ; and while 
every one deprecated the perilous situation of the Cubans, the latter 
continued unarmed; the slave trade augmented the causes of fear; 
and no moral reform was adopted to soften the harsh features and 
discordant views of the subjected or of the dominant race. It seemed 
as if occasional ruptures, which should awaken the natives to a sense 
of danger, were the most acceptable offering to the administration. 

Such did come to pass from time to time ; what was the nature 
of these disturbances can, perhaps, be best understood by the 
following extract from the work of the Countess of Merlin, entitled 
" The Slaves in the Spanish Colonies ; " who, though not a solid 
writer, has a style which savors of her sex, and is quite entertaining. 
She wrote somewhere about 1840: 

" The suavity of manner of the Cuban toward his slave inspires 
the latter with a respectful feeling, which is akin to worship : there is 
no limit to this affection ; he would murder his master's enemy 
publicly in the streets at mid-day, and would perish for his sake 
under torture, without giving a wink. To the slave, his master is 
his country and his family. The slave takes the family name of hh 
lord ; receives his children at their birth ; shares with them the food 
which was prepared by nature in female breasts; serves them in 
tumble adoration from earliest infancy. 



RECORD OF ATROCIOUS DEEDS. S1& 

" If the master is sick, the slave watcnes over him day and night; 
closes his eyes in death, and when this takes place, throws himself 
sorrowfully on the ground, cries wofully, and with his nails rends his 
own flesh in despair. But if a vindictive feeling is awakened in his 
bosom, he recovers his natural ferocity ; he is equally ardent in his 
hatred and in his love ; but very seldom does it happen that his 
master is the object of his revengeful fury. 

" When an insurrection is not excited by foreigners (which, by the 
by, is not often the case), the cause of it may be traced to violent 
enmity toward the overseer. Here is a fact which proves the moral 
influence of the masters over the minds of these savages. A few 
months previous to my arrival, the blacks of the sugar estates of my 
cousin, Don Rafael, became insurrected. The slaves lately imported 
from Africa were mostly of the Luccoomee tribe, and therefore excel- 
lent workmen, but of a violent, unwieldly temper, and always ready 
to hang themselves at the slightest opposition in their way. 

Protected by Slaves. 

" It was just after the bell had struck five, and the dawn of the 
morning was scarcely visible. Don Rafael had gone over to another 
of his estates, within half an hour before, leaving behind him, and 
still in tranquil slumbers, his four children and his wife, who was in 
a state of pregnancy. Of a sudden the latter awakes, terrified by 
hideous cries, and the sound of hurried steps. She jumps affrighted 
from her bed, and observes that all the negroes of the estate are 
making their way to the house. She is instantly surrounded by het 
children, weeping and crying at her side. 

" Being attended solely by slaves, she thought herself inevitably 
lost ; but scarcely had she time to canvass these ideas in her distracted 
mind, when one of her negro girls came in, saying, ' Child, your 
bounty need have no fears ; we have fastened all the doors, and 
Michael is gone for master.' Her companions placed themselves on 
all sides of their female owner, while the rebels advanced, tossing 
from hand to hand among themselves, a bloody corpse, with cries as 
awful as the hissing of the serpent in the desert. 



320 RECORD OF ATROCIOUS DEEDS. 

" The negro girls exclaimed, ' That's the overseer's body ! ' The 
rebels were already at the door, when Pepilla (this is the name of the 
lady), saw the carriage of her husband coming at full speed. That 
sweet soul, who, until that moment, had valiantly awaited death, was 
now overpowered at the sight of her husband coming unarmed 
toward the infuriated mob, and she fainted. 

" In the meantime, Rafael descends from the vehicle, places himself 
in front of them, and with only one severe look, and a single sign ot 
the hand, designates the purging house for them to go to. The slaves 
suddenly become silent, abandon the dead body of their overseer, 
and, with downcast faces, still holding their field-swords in their hands, 
they turn round and enter where they had been ordered Well 
might it be said, that they beheld in the man who stood before them 
the exterminating angel. 

A Last Effort for Life. 

" Although the movement," the countess continues, " had for a mo- 
ment subsided, Rafael, who was not aware of its cause, and feared the 
results, selected the opportunity to hurry his family away from the 
danger. The quitriti, or vehicle of the country, could not hold more 
than two persons, and it would have been imprudent to wait till more 
conveyances were in readiness. Pepilla and the children were placed 
in it in the best possible manner; and they were on the point of start- 
ing, when a man, covered with wounds, with a haggard, death-like 
look, approached the wheels of the quitrin, as if he meant to climb 
by them. 

" In his pale face the marks of despair and the symptoms of death 
could be traced, and fear and bitter anguish were the feelings which 
agitated his soul in the last moments of his life. He was the white 
accountant, who had been nearly murdered by the blacks, and having 
escaped from their ferocious hold, was making the last efforts to save 
a mere breath of life. His cries, his prayers, were calculated to make 
the heart faint. Rafael found himself in the cruel alternative of being 
deaf to the request of a dying man, or throwing his bloody and ex- 
piring corpse over his children; his pity conquered; the accountant 



RECORD OF ATROCIOUS DEEDS. 321 

was placed in the carriage as well as might be, and it moved away 
from the spot. 

" While this was passing on the estate of Rafael, the Marquis of 
Cardenas, Pepilla's brother, whose plantations were two leagues off, 
who had been apprised through a slave of the danger with which his 
sister was threatened, hastened to her aid. On reaching the spot, he 
noticed a number of rebels, who, impelled by a remnant of rage, or 
the fear of punishment, were directing their course to the open plains, 
searching for safety among runaway slaves. The Marquis of Carde- 
nas, whose sense of the danger of his sister had induced him to fly 
to her help, had brought with him, in the hurry of the moment, no 
one to guard his person except a single slave. 

" Scarcely had the fugitive band perceived a white man, when they 
went toward him. The marquis stopped his course and prepared to 
meef^ them; it was a useless temerity in him against such odds. Turn- 
ing his master's horse by the bridle, his own slave addressed him 
thus : ' My master, let your bounty get away from here ; let me come 
to an understanding with them.' And he then whipped his master's 
horse, which went off at a gallop. 

Fell a Viciim to his Devotedness. 

" The valiant ' Jose,' for his name is as worthy of being remembered 
as that of a hero, went on toward the savage mob, so as to gain time 
for his master to fly, and fell a victim to his devotedness, after re- 
ceiving thirty-six sword blows. This rising, which had not been pre- 
meditated, had no other consequences. It had originated in a severe 
chastisement, inflicted by the overseer, which had prompted the rebels 
to march toward the owner's dwelling, to expound their complaint. 
They begged Rafael's pardon, which was granted, with the exception 
of two or three, who were delivered over to the tribunals. A remark- 
able truth of the love of the slaves toward their lord, is the fact of 
their stopping, in the outset, the engine which was at the time grind- 
ing, and preventing the explosion which would otherwise have taken 
place. 

" Not only do the inhabitants of Cuba forward the emancipation of 
21 



322 RECORD OF ATROCIOUS DEEDS. 

their slaves by procuring for them the means of gaining money, !>%£ 
they often make the grant without any retribution. A service of im- 
portance, a mark of attachment, the act of nursing the master's child, 
assiduous care during the last illness, or the priority of services of 
an old member of the family, are all acts rewarded by the gift of 
liberty. Sometimes the slave considers this benefit as a punishment, 
and receives it weeping." 

Anecdotes of Slaves. 

These are very charming ideas. It is a pity that the countess 
should, by entering continually in the field of romance, get so far 
from the regions of truth. This remark, however, applies, in the 
paragraphs quoted, only to the assertion that the slaves in any case 
objected to being made free, or that such gifts were so common. 
There are facts both pleasing to the philanthropist and worthy of 
credit. The following, from the touching pen of the lady of Merlin, 
afford a happy illustration of them : 

" Though the slave enjoys the right of holding property, at his 
death it passes to the master ; but if he leaves children, the proprietor 
never deprives them of the inheritance. It sometimes happens that 
the free negro makes his will in favor of his former master. Here is 
an example. During the scourge of the cholera, an old woman was 
attending the sick negroes of my brother. She had continued in his 
service, although she had freed herself many years before. 

" Being taken with the disease, she called my brother and said to 
him : ' My master, I am going to die. These eighteen ounces of gold 
are for your bounty ; this piece of money for my comrades ; and this 
good old man, my husband, also, if your bounty will let him have an 
ounce to help him on through life, it is well.' The poor old woman 
did not die, but had a most miraculous escape. 

" I will refer to anothei anecdote, showing the lofty and delicate 
feeling in the heart of a slave. The Count of Gibacoa owned a 
slave, who, being desirous of ransoming himself, asked his master 
* how much he asked for him ?' The answer was, ' Nothing ; thou art 
free henceforth.' The negro was silent; looked at his master, wept, 



RECORD OF ATROCIOUS DEEDS. 323 

and went off. A few hours afterward he returned, bringing with him 
a fine bozal, or newly-imported African, whom he had purchased with 
the sum intended for his freedom ; and he said to the count : ' My 
master, your bounty had one slave before; it has now two.' 

" The blacks become identified with the affairs of their masters, 
and take part in their quarrels. The captain-general, Tacon, who, 
during the time of his government in Cuba, performed some few 
beneficent acts in this colony, but from his harsh and inflexible tem- 
per excited much ill-feeling, and took pleasure in humbling the 
nobility by his despotism, had persecuted the Marquis of Casa Calvo, 
who died while exiled. Some time afterward, and for the purpose of 
a magnificent banquet, which Tacon was to give the latter, he solic- 
ited the more renowned cooks of the city ; but the best of them was 
a slave to the Marchioness of Arcos, a daughter of the unfortunate 
Casa Calvo. 

Would not Accept Liberty. 

" Dazzled by the very height of his station, the general imagined 
that nothing would oppose his will ; and he asked the lady to allow 
him the services of the cook; but she, as might be expected, refused. 
Mortified with the failure, the general offered the negro not only his 
freedom, but an additional and abundant gift, should he choose to 
enter his service; but the negro answered : ' Tell the governor that I 
prefer slavery and poverty with my master to wealth and liberty with- 
out him.' " 

These acts, however, of devoted fidelity on the part of the slaves 
are descriptive of a period in the history of the slavery of Cuba long 
since passed. Though the romantic and very youthful heart of the 
countess would have prolonged the dream, every one was soon 
awakened to the sad reality which covered the land. 

Not very far apart, in time, from the insurrection of Montalvo, 
another took place somewhere near Aguacatc. In 1842 there was 
one in Martiaro, for the second time. On the last occasion the slaves 
were made bold by the impunity which, through the deranged system 
of justice, and the influence of their owners, had been obtained for 
them previously. In the same year the captain of the district d 



324 RECORD OF ATROCIOUS DEEDS. 

Lagunillas found an incendiary proclamation, which had fallen from 
the pocket of a foreign mulatto, who was employed as mason. A 
monk appeared on an estate near Limonar, under pretence of request- 
ing alms for the Virgin, whose image he carried with him, and went 
on prophesying to the blacks that on St. John's day they would 
become free. 

In July of the same year, the slaves of an estate near Bemba com- 
mitted several acts of insubordination, and murdered a neighbor. 
An Italian hair-dresser was imprisoned in 1 841 for receiving procla- 
mations of an incendiary nature. The negroes of Aldama, under 
the very walls of Havana, refused to work, and claimed the right of 
freedom. 

In January, 1843, a colored man, suspected by his companions of 
having revealed the particulars of the murder of an officer of govern- 
ment, by the name of Becerra, was assassinated by one of his own class, 
who, being afterward taken, committed suicide in jail. In March, 
1843, there happened at Bemba an insurrection of five hundred 
negroes, belonging to the railroad company and others. Very soon 
after, there was another movement on a large estate ; and before that 
year closed it occurred a second time. Soon after the insurgents 
made a formal rally, doing many bloody deeds, and murdering num- 
bers of the whites of different ages and sexes. 

The above brief retrospective view of a few only of the principal 
signs which were indicative of disquietude among the slave popula- 
tion is a very important part of Cuban history. The information re- 
ceived officially at Havana from the Spanish minister at Washington, 
and through the court of Madrid, as far back as 1834, in which the 
dangers which threatened the Island were fully shown, had been 
altogether slighted. 

So also were these events, though marked with blood, and showing 
unequivocal symptoms of a coming storm. It gathered not in a single 
day, but came gradually on; and the humble landholder was doomed 
to see the clouds of destruction hanging over his property, amid the 
general apathy of the officers of government, who alone were intrusted 
with the care of that in which they felt no interest 



RECORD OF ATROCIOUS DEEDS. 325 

A rich planter having obtained, subsequently to the last bloody 
•nsurrection of November, 1843, by means of a negro woman, and by 
hiding himself during the night in the room where she slept with her 
husband, the particulars of a plan of devastation and bloodshed so 
extended as to make him shudder with horror, the local government 
seemed at length to awake from a sleep fraught with such imminent 
danger. 

One of the immediate results was a meeting of the planters called 
in the city of Matanzas for the third of December. The meeting was 
held ; a committee named to propose, on the seventeenth, a report, 
which report bein^ unfavorable to the slave trade, the planters were 
not allowed to meet again, and the military administration went 
through those difficult circumstances, guided by its own incompetent 
intelligence, or by the suggestions of the ignorant. 

Mow did they act? What system did they adopt to quell the 
general commotion among the colored population, which was so visi- 
ble to every eye ? The answer to these questions will be found in the 
ungrateful task which it is here necessary to perform. 

All Considered Criminals. 

Under the impression derived from some testimony obtained by the 
military tribunals, established for the occasion, and composed of 
officers of inferior grade, it was supposed that the conspiracy framed 
by the blacks comprehended every individual of that unfortunate 
class. No one was excepted: every one must be guilty; and those 
who would or could reveal nothing, were marked as the most criminal. 

Acting upon this ground, a general investigation, or what was 
called " expurgo" was ordered throughout the whole land, and 
intrusted to the most ignorant officers, whose system of inquiry was 
reduced to questions implying the answers required, and accompanied 
by the most violent chastisement, often inflicted in such a manner as 
sooner or later to produce death. Suggestions were made of the 
utility of employing lawyers of eminent standing, whose ingenuity and 
capacity would have advanced the proceedings efficiently; but noth- 
ing of the kind met a hearing. The following are a few of the 



326 RECORD OF ATROCIOUS DEEDS. 

atrocious acts which resulted from conferring judicial powers upon 
military officers of an inferior class. 

Under date of March 6th, 1844, the captain-general addressed a 
letter to General Salas, who presided over the military tribunal 
stationed in the interior, in answer to the dispatches of the latter, 
consulting him as to the necessity of using violent means in the 
prosecution of those free colored persons under indictment, who 
should refuse to discover their associates, and setting forth the good 
effects which those means had produced among the slaves. In this 
letter his excellency authorized these same means to be employed 
with the free colored population, and manifested his approbation of 
their chastisement in the country where they should be taken, and of 
the attendance of the officer, in order to certify the tectimrjiy ! 

Brutal Exercise of Authority. 

These officers, thus raised by a power above the laws, and above 
the dominical rights of the owners of slaves, with very few excep- 
tions, exercised their authority in a manner the most sordid, brutal, 
and sanguinary. Under the universal alarm raised, and extending 
to every hut, whoever was bold enough to insinuate a doubt respect- 
ing facts revealed under the most atrocious tortures, was deemed an 
abolitionist; although his interests and previous conduct presented a 
much safer guarantee of his opinions than the trust which should be 
placed in uneducated and hungry officers of the army. It was quite 
common for the latter to demand and obtain money from the accused, 
in order to save their lives, or their bodies from barbarous lashing. 

One of these prosecuting attorneys, judges, and executioners, at 
one and the same time, namely, Don Ramon Gonzales, ordered his 
victims to be taken to a room which had been whitewashed, and the 
walls of which were besmeared with blood and small pieces of flesh 
from the wretches who had preceded them in this cruel treatment. 
There stood a bloody ladder, where the accused were tied, with their 
he?.ds downward, and whether free or slave, if they would not avow 
what the fiscal officer insinuated, were whipped to death by two stout 
mulattoes selected for this purpose. They were scourged with 



RECORD OF ATROCIOUS DEEDS. 32V 

leather straps, having at the end a small destructive button, made of 
fine wire. 

At the spot called the farm of Soto, were butchered in this manner 
M. Ruiz, C. Tolon, George Blakely, and other freemen; and their 
deaths were made to appear, by certificates from physicians, as hav- 
ing been caused by diarrhoea. This new minister of the law had 
been formerly prosecuted for theft, extortion, and even deeper crimes, 
committed while he commanded the criminals' depot. 

Inhuman Tortures. 

Don Mariano F brought on himself the execration and 

odium of the whole city of Matanzas for his barbarous treatment 
of Andrew Dodge, a colored man, born free, who was generally 
beloved and esteemed, and was the owner of considerable property. 
He was tied to the ladder and flogged on three different occasions^ 
but never avowed what he was accused of; and finally he was executed,' 
in defiance even of these sanguinary laws of old, which instituted the 
ordeal of torture in ages called barbarous. 

He also caused a free negro, Pedro Nunez, to be tied hand-and-foot 
and hung to the ceiling of the house, keeping him in this painful 
position through the night, his body having been previously lacerated 
by the whip. Again, by threatening to inflict punishment, he obtained 
from the mulatto, Thomas Vargas, an affidavit against a man of the 
same class, called Fonten. He used to visit Vargas at his dungeon 
every day after sentence had been passed on him, to assure him 
sportingly that he would not fail to receive four bullets through his 
body. The prophecy was of course fulfilled. 

Don Juan Costa, another of the acting officers, had likewise his 
share in this work of accusation ; and there were, in the process of 
his making, ninety-six certificates of an equal number of deaths of 
the indicted during the investigation. Of these, forty-two were 
freemen and fifty-four slaves. They all had died under the lash ; and 
that you may judge of the intensity of their sufferings, I will record 
what appears from the process, viz. : " Lorenzo Sanchez, imprisoned 
on the first of April, died on the fourth ; Joseph Cavallero, imprisoned 



328 RECORD OF ATROCIOUS DEEDS. 

on the fourth, died on the sixth ; John Austin Molino, imprisoned on 
the ninth, died on the twelfth ; and so on through an infinite number. 
Don lose del Pozo punished a negro one hundred and ten years 
old, who died at the Matanzas jail. Don Francisco Illas, the en- 
lightened and humane fiscal officer, who appears among those of his 
class as if to redeem the Spanish name from the dark stain brought 
upon it bv his associates, was called to certify to the death of this old 
man ; but he drew back horror-struck from the spot when ho beheld 
a man so worn by age, having his body cut into pieces by the pitiless 
lash. The unfortunate victim had complained of the fiscal Pozo, accus- 
ing him of stealing from him forty-five dollars. Del Pozo, after in- 
flicting severe punishment, found sport in hanging the accused 
victims on a tree, and then cutting the ropes to see them fill to the 
ground in bunches. He had been a journeyman tailor at Havana. 

A Savage Boast. 

Don Ferdinand Percher presented his process, having seventy-two 
certificates of deaths of prisoners during the prosecution ; twenty- 
nine freemen and forty-three slaves. " I have one hundred prisoners 
in souse," said he once, before a number of respectable citizens, " and 
if one escapes I am willing to have him nailed to my forehead." 

Don Leon Dulzaides, in Jul}-, 1S44, had a free negro placed in the 
jail in what is called " campaign stocks," which is a most distressing 
position of the body, the arms being arranged so as to hold the legs ; 
and thus placed, ordered him to be whipped unmercifully, until he 
should confess. Another of the fiscals, who was acting in his official 
character in the next room, was called by the cries of the victim, and 
obtained for him a suspension of punishment. 

Dulzaides demanded the punishment of death for twenty-seven 
prisoners, but the council sentenced only two. During the reading of 
the sentence, he used to ask money of such as were saved from death. 

Seventy prisoners of Don Jyacinth ■ died during the prosecution, 

of whom thirty-five were freemen. This fiscal was suspended from 
office. 

Don Miguel Ballo de la Torre, being on the estate of Oviedo, ex- 



RECORD OF ATROCIOUS DEEDS. 329 

torted from the negroes affidavits accusing their master, who, being 
absent, was apprised through his administrator or econotne, that he was 
a lost man, but that the fiscal would save him, provided he paid two 
hundred ounces of gold. The administrator wrote several letters on 
the subject, which were handed to General Salas, president of tht 
tribune, who wrote to the fiscal, ordering him not to continue thr 
prosecution on that estate. 

Don Manuel Siburu, fiscal of the prosecution against the English 
And American machinists, had demanded in his accusation the sen- 
tence of death upon an Englishman named Elkins. The members 
of the military tribunals, however, being intimidated by the con- 
sequences that might follow, and at the same time well aware that 
the testimony had been extorted by the lash, consulted respecting the 
case with General O'Donnell. 

What the Treaty Guaranteed. 

The latter answered, that they should proceed from what they 
found in the process, and look well to what they did ; which, as there 
was no mention of the torture in the proceedings, meant that they 
should crown by their sentence the system of barbarous cruelty com- 
menced by the fiscals. The consultation was repeated, and a similar 
answer obtained. 

At the same time, Mr. Crawford, the English consul at Havana, 
officially informed the captain-general that he was aware that the 
British Majesty's subjects were being indicted and judged at Matan- 
zas in a manner different from that adopted toward Spanish subjects ; 
that as the testimony had been obtained by forcible means, whatever 
had been done was null ; that there existed a treaty between the two 
nations, wherein it was stipulated that no Englishman should be 
judged in the Spanish dominions by special tribunals or committees, 
but by the regular order of the Spanish laws for Spaniards. 

The consul was persevering in his demand, and the captain-gen- 
eral, embarrassed also by the consultations aforesaid, was obliged to 
give up ; and he consequently ordered that the prosecutior. against 
foreigners should be placed in the hands of Don Francisco Illas, to 



330 RECORD OF ATROCIOUS DEEDS. 

be made anew. This able officer soon perceived that nothing was to 
be met with in what had been done but falsehood, infamy, and 
calumny, disconnectedly thrown together by the stupid Siburu. 

Within two months afterward the prisoners were declared inno- 
cent, and liberated. It was in the presence of this same Siburu, that 
another of his prisoners, the aged and respectable mulatto, Ceballos, 
well known and esteemed by the merchants of Havana, suddenly 
expired on being shown the place of torture. 

Shifting the Guilt on Another. 

Don Pedro Linares had three old Indians whipped in Cardenas, 
two of whom died, who lived in that neighborhood, and had resided 
on the Island since the acquisition of Florida by the United States, 
whence they had come, from their attachment to the Spanish nation. 
Don Pedro Acevedo, fiscal of the proceedings against the negroes on 
the coffee estate of Domech, who had been accused of possessing 
poison (which, by the by, was never found) for the purpose of killing 
tfieir master, so contrived it as to throw the guilt on a young white 
Aian, a native of the Canary Islands, aged between nineteen and 
twenty-one, who was executed, declaring his innocence to the last 
moment of his life. On being exhorted by the priest to pardon his 
enemies, he complied with the request, excepting the fiscal, Acevedo, 
whom he could not pardon. 

Don Pedro Llanes, another of the fiscals, filled up the measure of 
his crimes, which cried so loudly for punishment, that he was at 
length accused of numberless robberies, extortions of money, and all 
kinds of wickedness, and at last was stopped in his dark career, and 
imprisoned in the Havana jail. There, under the stingings of con- 
science, he placed in the hands of General O'Donnell two hundred 
and fifty ounces of gold, which had been the fruits of his rapacity ; 
and soon after committed suicide by cutting his throat. Don Manuel 
Mata, lieutenant-colonel of the Carlist ranks in 1834, another of the 
fiscals, was imprisoned at Havana for excesses and robberies com- 
mitted in his official character during these disgraceful proceedings, 

The remaining fiscals, Gala, Gherci, Flores Apodaca, Cruces, 



RECORD OF ATROCIOUS DEEDS. 331 

Custardoz, Marcotegui, Maso, Llorens, Sanchez, Rosquin, Baltanas, 
Alvarez Murillo, and Domenech, traversed the country in every direc- 
tion, and strictly obeyed the orders they had received ; some whip- 
ping or torturing free colored or slave individuals, and extorting false 
testimony and accusations, and others seizing horses, cattle, furniture, 
and whatever was owned by the free colored persons, all which they 
sold and converted into cash. It is hardly necessary to say, that the 
fiscals took from their victims every cent which they possessed. 

It is but justice to add, that the fiscals named Mendoza, Arango, 
and Illas are honorable exceptions to this host of miscreants. Signor 
Illas, above all, has called forth the approbation of all the feeling part 
of the community, and of the friends of justice and humanity, for his 
able, judicious, disinterested, ?>nd impartial conduct and deportment 
in the cases of the French coffee-planters and the English andAmf 1 - 
can machinists, as well as of all who fell under his control. 

Prisoners Sentenced to Death. 

In the cases under the direction of the fiscal Ballo, this officer did 
not demand that sentence of death should be pronounced on any of 
his prisoners ; the tribunal nevertheless sentenced two. The fiscal 
Lara demanded death for only one, and the tribunal sentenced four. 
The sergeant intrusted with the custody of the prisoners in the mili- 
tary jail at Matanzas is said to have collected twenty thousand dol- 
lars in cash for prison-fees and other arbitrary charges exacted from 
the prisoners. 

In the city of Matanzas, the general persecution of the colored 
race was converted by the fiscals into means of gratifying their lewd 
passions upon the distracted daughters, wives, and sisters of their 
male victims. So far did they carry their barefaced impudence, that 
a ball was given by several of the fiscals, and attended by the con- 
sulting lawyer of the military tribunal, where none but women of 
color appeared. At a late hour of the night, the doors were closed ; 
and all the inmates being in a state of disgraceful nudity, one can 
imagine what scenes of revelry and debauch followed. 

Acts of such low and stupid infamy serve to show how the several 



332 RECORD OF ATROCIOUS DEEDS. 

channels of civilization are interwoven, and how easy it is for man, 
when once authorized to trample on any of the salutary restraints of 
society, to mock and despise whatever comes in the way of his most 
sensual appetites. 

And now, in order justly to estimate the trust placed in the hands 
of these agents of military justice, the nature of their duties should 
Jae stated. They had separately the jurisdiction of a tribunal, with 
power to imprison and call before them whomsoever they would 
interrogate. The testimony which they obtained was received pri ■ 
vately, no one being present except the fiscal and the witness. The 
fiscal would write down and sign the declaration, the blacks and the 
majority of witnesses knowing neither how to read nor write. 

A Mockery of Justice. 

Not even the notary, who is required to be present at the affidavits 
before the ordinary tribunals, appeared on these occasions to check 
the arbitrary, malicious, or blind impressions of the fiscal. Officers 
of the army were named to act as counsel for the individuals indicted, 
whether colored or white, free or bondsmen. These counselors, 
incapable through lack of talent or learning, were not allowed to read 
the proceedings regarding the persons whom they were to defend. 
All the instruction they had must be derived from a hasty and gene- 
ral abstract of facts made by the same fiscal, whose last duty was to 
demand the sentence which, in his opinion, should be imposed on the 
criminal. 

Too much blame should not be attributed to the chief who, com- 
manding the Island at this delicate period, could not be approached 
by the wisdom and intelligence of the land. The invariable and 
( jea J ous policy which, for many years, has directed the administration 
of Cuba, drew away from the absolute military authority whatever 
was enlightened and spirited. Men of vulgar habits and little edu- 
cation were the natural upholders of a barbarous system ; and it was 
not easy to find officers of superior worth to act under a cruel im- 
pulse, and to execute sanguinary orders ; so that this strange course 
was unavoidably placed in the most incapable or polluted hands. 



RECORD OF ATROCIOUS DEEDS. 333 

With regard to the truth of the conspiracy, and whatever ground 
it originally had, it has been so much embroiled and connected with 
incoherent, false, and improbable testimony, adduced by the fear of 
punishment, that a general opinion is fast gaining ground at the 
present day that it never existed, and that the few reports and con- 
versations of a rebellious nature, mentioned with some plausibility in 
the course of the investigations, are the constant and latent workings 
of the slaves, which, in all ages, have accompanied the institution of 
slavery. This would be a difficult matter to decide. 

The events which preceded the general and scourging inquisition, 
together with the simultaneous and visible impudence of the free 
colored race, were certain indications of a disturbed state of mind in 
at least some sections of the country. On the other hand, the indict- 
ments followed up by different fiscals, and the use of the torture 
without obtaining satisfactory evidence to dispel all manner of doubt 
as to the existence of a plot, speak against its credibility. It can also 
be alleged that the very ignorance of the prosecutors, and the irreg- 
ularity of their mode of procedure, were calculated to hinder the 
discovery of a plot, without deciding that it had positively no 
foundation. 

It is more likely that the conspiracy was in its infancy ; and that 
when the avenging storm which swept over the land was heard from 
afar, it increased the number of the discontented, who, through 
despair, prepared for some last acts of devastation and blood. There 
j one painful reflection, which fixes itself upon the considerate ob- 
server _3f events. While foreigners, after long delay, obtained a 
hearing of their cases, and after being paraded through the country, 
tied hand-and-foot on horseback, and kept in a filthy dungeon, were 
declared innocent, the white Creoles, who had been imprisoned with 
equal injustice, remained still incarcerated, and their cases undecided, 
because they had no consul to claim for them the rights of civilized 
man ! 



CHAPTER XXV. 
Story of Marti, the Smuggler. 

ONE of the most successful villains whose story will be written 
in history, is a man named Marti, as well known in Cuba as } 
the person of the Governor- General himself. Formerly he 
was notorious as a smuggler and half pirate on the coast of the 
Island, being a daring and accomplished leader of reckless men. At 
one time he bore the title of King of the Isle of Pines, where was 
his principal rendezvous, and from whence he dispatched his vessels, 
small, fleet crafts, to operate in the neighboring waters. 

When Tacon landed on the Island, and became Governor-General, 
he found the revenue laws in a sad condition, as well as the internal 
regulations of the Island. As already stated, Tacon governed Cuba 
four years, from 1834 to 1838. The Spanish marine sent out 
to regulate the maritime matters of the Island, lay idly in port, 
the officers passing their time on shore, or in giving balls and 
dances on the decks of their vessels. Tacon saw that one of the 
first moves for him to make was to suppress the smuggling upon the 
coast, at all hazards ; and to this end he set himself directly to work. 
The maritime force at his command was at once detailed upon this 
service, and they coasted night and day, but without the least success 
against the smugglers. In vain were all the vigilance and activity of 
Tacon and his agents — they accomplished nothing. 

At last, finding that all his expeditions against them failed, partly 
from the adroitness and bravery of the smugglers, and partly from 
the want of pilots among the shoals and rocks they had frequented, a 
large and tempting reward was offered to any one of them who would 
desert from his comrades and act in this capacity in behalf of the 
Government. 

At the same time, a double sum, most princely in amount, was 
334 - - 



MARTI, THE SMUGGLER. 335 

offered for the person of one Marti, dead or alive, who was known to 
be the leader of the lawless rovers who thus defied the Government. 
These rewards were freely promulgated, and posted so as to reach 
the ears and eyes of those whom they concerned ; but even these 
seemed to produce no effect, and the Government officers were at a 
loss how to proceed in the matter. 

A Mysterious Figure. 

It was a dark, cloudy night in Havana, some three or four months 
subsequent to the issuing of these placards announcing the rewards 
referred to, when two sentinels were pacing backwards and forwards 
before the main entrance to the Governor's palace, just opposite the 
grand plaza. A little before midnight, a man, wrapped in a cloak, 
was watching them from behind the statue of Ferdinand, near the 
fountain, and, after observing that the two soldiers acting as sentinels 
paced their brief walk so as to meet each other, and then turn their 
backs as they separated, leaving a brief moment in the interval when 
the eyes of both were turned away from the entrance they were 
placed to guard, seemed to calculate upon passing them unobserved. 

It was an exceedingly delicate manoeuvre, and required great care 
and dexterity to effect it ; but, at last, it was adroitly done, and the 
stranger sprang lightly through the entrance, secreting himself 
behind one of the pillars in the inner court of the palace. The senti- 
nels paced on undisturbed. 

The figure which had thus stealthily effected an entrance, now 
sought the broad stairs that led to the Governor's suite of apartments, 
with a confidence that evinced a perfect knowledge of the place. A 
second guard-post was to be passed at the head of the stairs ; but, 
assuming an air of authority, the stranger offered a cold military 
salute and pressed forward, as though there was not the most distant 
question of his right so to do ; and thus avoiding all suspicion in the 
guard's mind, he boldly entered the Governor's reception-room un- 
challenged, and closed the door behind him. 

In a large easy-chair sat the commander-in-chief, busily engaged 
in writing, but alone. An expression of undisguised satisfaction 



336 MARTI, THE SMUGGLER 

passed across the weather-beaten countenance of the new-comer at 
this state of affairs, as he coolly cast off his cloak and tossed it over 
his arm, and then proceeded to wipe the perspiration from his face. 
The Governor, looking up with surprise, fixed his keen eyes upon 
the intruder. 

"Who enters here, unannounced, at this hour?" he asked, sternly 
while he regarded the stranger earnestly. 

" One who has information of value for the governor-general. You 
are Tacon, I suppose ?" 

" I am. What would you with me ? or, rather, how did you pass 
my guard unchallenged?" 

" Of that anon. Excellency, you have offered a handsome reward 
for information concerning the rovers of the gulf?" 

" Ha ! yes. What of them ?" said Tacon, with undisguised interest. 

" Excellency, I must speak with caution," continued the new- 
comer ; " otherwise I may condemn and sacrifice myself." 

" You have naught to fear on that head. The offer of reward for 
evidence against the scapegraces also vouchsafes a pardon to the 
informant. You may speak on, without fear for yourself, even 
though you may be one of the very confederation itself." 

" You offer a reward, also, in addition, for the discovery of Marti — 
Captain Marti, of the smugglers — do you not?" 

" We do, and will gladly make good the promise of reward for any 
and all information upon the subject," replied Tacon. 

" First, Excellency, do you give me your knightly word that you 
will grant a free pardon to me, if I reveal all that you require to 
know, even embracing the most secret hiding-places of the rovers ?" 

" I pledge you my word of honor," said the commander. 

" No matter how heinous in the sight of the law my offences may 
have been, still you will pardon me, under the king's seal ?" 

" I will, if you reveal truly and to any good purpose," answered 
Tacon, weighing in his mind the purpose of all this precaution. 

" Even if I were a leader among the rovers, myself?" 

The governor hesitated for a moment, canvassing in a single 
glance the subject before him, and then said : 



MARTI, THE SMUGGLER. 337 

" Even then, be you whom you may ; if you are able and will hon- 
estly pilot our ships and reveal the secrets of Marti and his followers, 
you shall be rewarded as our proffer sets forth, and yourself receive a 
free pardon." 

" Excellency, I think I know your character well enough to trust 
you, else I should not have ventured here." 

" Speak, then ; my time is precious," was the impatient reply of 
Tacon. 

" Then, Excellency, the man for whom you have offered the largest 
reward, dead or alive, is now before you ! " 

" And you are — " 

" Marti ! " 

The governor-general drew back in astonishment, and cast his eyes 
towards a brace of pistols that lay within reach of his right hand ; 
but it was only for a single moment, when he again assumed entire 
self-control, and said: 

" I shall keep my promise, sir, provided you are faithful, though 
the laws call loudly fcr your punishment, and even now you are in 
my power. To insure your faithfulness, you must remain at present 
under guard." Saying which, he rang a silver bell by his side, and 
issued a verbal order to the attendant who answered it. Immediately 
after, the officer of the watch entered, and Marti was placed in con- 
finement, with orders to render him comfortable until he was sent for. 
His name remainc 4 a secret with the commander; and thus the night 
scene closed. 

The Smuggler Kept his Word. 

On the following day, one of the men-of-war that lay idly beneath 
the guns of Morro Castle suddenly became the scene of the utmost 
activity, and, before noon, had weighed her anchor, and was standing 
out into the gulf stream. Marti, the smuggler, was on board, as her 
pilot; and faithfully did he guide the ship, on the discharge of his 
treacherous business, among the shoals and bays of the coast for 
nearly a month, revealing every secret haunt of the rovers, exposing 
their most valuable depots and well-selected rendezvous ; and many 
a smuggling craft was taken and destroyed. 
22 



338 MARTI, THE SMUGGLER. 

The amount of money and property thus secured was very great ; 
and Marti returned with the ship to claim his reward from the gover- 
nor-general, who, well satisfied with the manner in which the rascal 
had fulfilled his agreement, and betrayed those comrades who were 
too faithful to be tempted to treachery themselves, summoned Marti 
before him. 

" As you have faithfully performed your part of our agreement," 
said the governor-general, " I am now prepared to comply with the 
articles on my part. In this package you will find a free and uncon- 
ditional pardon for all your past offences against the laws. And here 
is an order on the treasury for — " 

He Controlled the Fish Market. 

" Excellency, excuse me. The pardon I gladly receive. As to 
the sum of money you propose to give to me, let me make you i* 
proposition. Retain the money ; and, in place of it, guarantee to me 
the right to fish in the neighborhood of the city, and declare the 
trade in fish contraband to all except my agents. This will richly 
repay me, and I will erect a public market of stone at my own 
expense, which shall be an ornament to the city, and which at the 
expiration of a specified number of years shall revert to the govern* 
ment, with all right and title to the fishery." 

Tacon was pleased at the idea of a superb fish-market, which should 
eventually revert to the government, and also at the idea of saving 
the large sum of money covered by the promised reward. The 
singular proposition of the smuggler was duly considered and acceded 
to, and Marti was declared in legal form to possess for the future sole 
right to fish in the neighborhood of the city, or to sell the article in 
any form, and he at once assumed the rights that the order guaran- 
teed to him. 

Having in his roving life learned all the best fishing-grounds, he 
furnished the city bountifully with the article, and reaped yearly an 
immense profit, until, at the close of the period for which the monop- 
oly was granted, he was the richest man on the Island. According 
fce the agreement, the fine market and its privilege reverted to the 



MARTI, THE SMUGGLER. 339 

government at the time specified, and the monopoly has ever since 
been rigorously enforced. 

Marti, now possessed of immense wealth, looked about him, to see 
in what way he could most profitably invest it to insure a handsome 
and sure return. The idea struck him if he could obtain the monop- 
oly of theatricals in Havana on some such conditions as he had done 
that of the right to fish off its shores, he could still further increase 
his ill-gotten wealth. He obtained the monopoly, on condition that 
he should erect one of the largest and finest theatres in the world, 
which he did, locating the same just outside the city walls. 

Many romantic stories are told of Marti ; but the one we have here 
related is the only one that is authenticated. 



CHAPTER XXVI 
The Conspiracy of Lopez. 

THE result of the movement in the western department, 
under Tacon, showed the Cubans that they had nothing to 
hope from Spain, while the cruelties of General O'Donnell 
increased the great discontent and despair of the people. They now 
became satisfied that the hope of legal reform was but a chimera : 
and a portion of the liberal party, seeing no issue from their insuffer- 
able position but that of revolution, boldly advocated the intervention 
>f arms. In 1848 a conspiracy was formed in Cienfuegos and 
Trinidad, with the purpose of throwing off the Spanish yoke ; but it 
was soon discovered and crushed by the imprisonment of various 
individuals in the central department. 

The principal leader in this movement was General Narciso Lopez, 
who succeeded in effecting his escape to the United States, where he im- 
mediately placed himself in communication with several influential 
and liberal Creoles, voluntary and involuntary exiles, and established 
a correspondence with the remnant of the liberal party yet at liberty 
on fhe Island, at the same time being aided in his plans by American 
sympathy. The result of the deliberations of himself, his correspond- 
ents and associates, was to try by the chances of war for the liberation 
of Cuba. 

Many of the leading patriots of the Island undoubtedly believed 
that the government of the United States would second their efforts 
if they should decide to unite themselves to our republic, and boldly 
raise the banner of annexation. A portion of the Cuban liberals 
adopted the motto, " Legal Reform or Independence ; " and these two 
factions of the patriots did not henceforth act in perfect conceit with 
each other — a most fatal error to the interests of both. Time and 
circumstances favored the war and annexation party ; the people 



THE CONSPIRACY OF LOPEZ. 341 

were more than ever discontented with a government which so 
oppressed them by a military despotism, and by the enormous 
weight of the unjust taxation levied upon them. We may here 
rem?rk that the increase of the public revenue, in the midst of so 
many elements of destruction and ruin, can only be explained by the 
facility with which the captain-general and royal stewards of the 
Island invented and arranged taxes, at their pleasure, and without a 
shadow of propriety, or even precedent. 

The colored population of the Island, both slaves and free, hated 
the Spaniards, for good reasons. The war party, moreover, reckoned 
on the genius of a leader (Lopez), " the first lance of Spain," trained 
to arms, equal in talents to any of the Spanish generals, and beloved 
by the Spanish troops, as well as by the Cuban population ; and they 
relied, also, as we have said, on the sympathy and ultimate aid of the 
United States government. 

Many False Reports. 

It is undoubtedly true that interested parties in this country, 
prompted by mercenary motives, increased this latter delusion by 
false reports ; while the Cuban conspirators, in turn, buoyed up the 
hopes of their friends in the United States, by glowing accounts of 
the patriotic spirit of the Creoles, and the extent of the preparations 
they were making for a successful revolt. 

General Lopez was actively arranging the means for an invasion, 
when, in 1849, the United States government threw terror into the 
ranks of the filibusters, by announcing its determination to enforce 
the sacredness of treaty stipulations. This, for a time, frustrated the 
intended invasion. 

In 1850 Lopez succeeded in effecting his first descent upon the 
Island. Having succeeded in baffling the vigilance of the United 
States government, an expedition, consisting of six hundred and 
fifty-two men, was embarked on board two sailing-vessels and the 
steamer " Creole," which conveyed the general and his staff! In the 
beginning of July the sailing-vessels left New Orleans, with-orders 
to anchor at Contoy, one of the Mugeres Islands, on the coast of 



342 THE CONSPIRACY OF LOPEZ. 

Yucatan ; the general followed, on the " Creole," on the 7th. At the 
time when the troops were embarked on the " Creole " at Contoy, 
fifty-two of the number, who had been deceived as to the nature of the 
expedition, refused to follow the general, and were left on the island, 
with the intention of returning to the United States in the two 
schooners. 

General Lopez, after gaining some information from a fisherman 
he encountered, resolved to land at Cardenas, on the northern coast 
of the Island, a hundred and twenty miles east of Havana. He cal- 
culated that he could surprise and master the garrison before the 
Captain-General could possibly obtain intelligence of his departure 
from New Orleans. His plan was to master the town, secure the 
authorities, intimidate the Spaniards, and then, sustained by the 
moral influence of victory, proceed to Matanzas by railroad. 

War-Ships Hastily Despatched. 

Roncali, the Captain-General, having received intelligence ot the 
landing at Contoy, dispatched several ships-of-war in that direction, 
lo seize upon the general and his followers. The latter, however, 
escaped the snare, and effected his landing on the 19th. The garri- 
son rushed to arms, and, while a portion of the troops, after immaterial 
loss, retired in good order to the suburbs, another, under the com- 
mand of Governor Ceruti, intrenched themselves in the government 
house, cind gave battle to the invaders. 

After a sharp skirmish, the building being set on fire, they surren- 
dered ; the Governor and two or three officers were made prisoners, 
and the soldiers consented to join the revolutionary colors ! Mean- 
while, l body of one hundred invaders seized upon the railroad station. 
The engines were fired up, and the trains made ready to transport 
the iuvading column to Matanzas. 

But now came a panse. General Lopez, seeing that the native 
population did not respond to his appeal, knew that as soon as the 
news of the taking of Cardenas should be circulated he would be in 
a very critical situation. In fact, the Governor of Matanzas was soon 
on the march, at the head of five hundred men. General Armero 



THE CONSPIRACY OF LOPEZ. 343 

sailed from Havana in the " Pizarro," with a thousand infantry, while 
two thousand five hundred picked troops, under the command of 
General Count de Mirasol, were sent from Havana by the railroad. 

Lopez saw that it would be madness to await the attack of these for- 
midable columns, unsupported save by his own immediate followers, 
and accordingly issued his orders for the reembarkation of his band, 
yet without relinquishing the idea of landing on some more favorable 
point of the Island. 

That portion of the garrison which, in the beginning of the affair, 
had retreated to the suburbs, finding itself reinforced by a detachment 
of cavalry, attempted to cut off the retreat of the invading general ; 
but the deadly fire of the latter's reserve decimated the horse, and the 
infantry, dismayed at their destruction, took to rapid flight. The 
" Creole " accordingly left the port without molestation, and before 
the arrival of the government steam-frigate " Pizarro." 

The Spanish prisoners were landed at Cayo de Piedras, and then 
Lopez, discovering the " Pizarro " in the distance, made for the 
American continent, where the steamer was abandoned. General. 
Lopez was arrested by the authorities of Savannah, but liberated 
again, in deference to the public clamor. The " Creole " was seized, 
confiscated and sold. The invaders disbanded ; and thus this enter- 
prise terminated. 

A less enterprising and determined spirit than that of General 
Lopez would have been completely broken by the failure of his first 
attempts, the inactivity of the Cubans, the hostility of the American 
government, and the formidable forces and preparations of the Span- 
ish officials. 

He believed, however, that the Cubans were ripe for revolt ; that 
public opinion in the United States would nullify the action of the 
Federal government ; and that, if he could once gain a foothold in the 
T sland, the Spanish troops would desert in such numbers to his ban- 
kers that the preponderance of power would soon be upon his side ; 
and, with these views, he once more busied himself, with unremitting 
industry, to form another expedition. 

Meanwhile, the daring attack upon Cardenas, while it demon- 



344 THE CONSPIRACY OF LOPEZ. 

strated the determination of the invading party, caused great anxiety 
in the mind of General Roncali. True, he had at his disposal an 
army of more than twenty thousand regular troops ; but he was by 
no means sure of their loyalty, and he therefore determined to raise a 
local militia; but, as he suffered only Spaniards to enlist in it, he 
aroused the jealousy of the Cuban-born inhabitants, and thus swelled 
the force of opposition against the government. General Lopez was 
informed of this fact, and based new hopes upon the circumstance. 

The Tyranny Continued. 

The Spanish government, having recalled Roncali, appointed Don 
Jose de la Concha Captain-General of the Island, and the severity of 
his sway reminded the inhabitants of the iron rule of Tacon. It was 
during his administration that Lopez effected his second landing at 
Playitas, sixty miles west of Havana. Several partial insurrections, 
which had preceded this event, easily suppressed, as it appears, by 
the Spanish government, but exaggerated in the accounts dispatched 
to the friends of Cuba in the United States, inflamed the zeal of 
Lopez, and made him believe that the time for a successful invasion 
had at length arrived. The following is from a narrative of one of 
the invaders : " The general showed me much of his co.Tespondence 
from the Island. It represented a pervading anxiety for his arrival, 
on the part of the Creole population. His presence alone, to head 
the insurrection, which would then become general, was all they 
called for ; his presence and a supply of arms, of which they were 
totally destitute. The risings already made were highly colored in 
some of the communications addressed to him from sources of 
unquestionable sincerity." 

He was so confident, at one time, of the determination and ability 
of the Cubans alone to secure their independence, that he wished to 
embark without any force, and throw himself among them. It was 
this confidence that led him to embark with only four hundred ill- 
armed men on board the little steamer " Pampero," on the 2d of 
August, 185 1. This force consisted mostly of Americans, but 
embraced forty-nine Cubans in its ranks, with several German and 



THE CONSPIRACY OF LOPEZ. 345 

Hungarian officers ; among the latter, General Pragay, one of the 
heroes of the Hungarian revolution, who was second in command to 
General Lopez on this occasion. 

Many of the foreign officers spoke little, if any, English, and 
mutual jealousies and insubordinations soon manifested themselves 
in the little band. They were composed of fierce spirits, and had 
come together without any previous drilling or knowledge of each 
other. It was not the intention of the commander-in-chief to sail 
direct for Cuba, but to go to the neighborhood of St. John's river, 
Florida, and get a supply of artillery, ammunition, extra arms, etc. 

The Invaders Effect a Landing. 

He then proposed to land somewhere in the central department, 
where he thought he could get a footing, and rally a formidable force, 
before the government troops could reach him. But, when five days 
out, Lopez discovered that the " Pampero " was short of coal ; as no 
time could be spared to remedy this deficiency, he resolved to effect 
a landing at once, and send back the " Pampero " for reinforcements 
and supplies. 

At Key West he obtained favorable intelligence from Cuba, which 
confirmed his previous plans. He learned that a large portion of the 
troops had been sent to the eastern department ; and he accordingly 
steered for Bahia Honda (deep bay). The current of the gulf, acting 
while the machinery of the boat was temporarily stopped for repairs, 
and the variation of the compass in the neighborhood of so many 
arms, caused the steamer to run out of her course on the night of the 
loth; and when the morning broke, the invaders found themselves 
heading for the narrow entrance of the harbor of Havana ! 

The course of the steamer was instantly altered ; but all on board 
momentarily expected the apparition of a war steamer from the 
channel between the Morro and the Punta. It appeared, afterwards, 
that the " Pampero " was signalized as a strange steamer, but not 
reported as suspicious until evening. The " Pampero " then made for 
the bay of Cabanas ; but, just as she was turning into the entrance, a 
Spanish frigate and sloop-of-war were seen at anchor, the first of 



346 THE CONSPIRACY OF LOPEZ. 

which immediately gave chase; but, the wind falling, the frigate gave 
it up, and returned to the bay to send intelligence of the expedition 
to Havana. 

The landing was finally effected at midnight, between the I ith and 
1 2th of August, and the steamer was immediately sent off to the 
United States for further reinforcements. As it was necessary to 
obtain transportation for the baggage, General Lopez resolved to , 
leave Colonel Crittenden with one hundred and twenty men to guardi 
it and with the remainder of the expedition to push on to Las Pozau, 
a village about ten miles distant, whence he could send back carts 
and horses to receive it. Among the baggage were four barrels of 
powder, two of cartridges, the officers' effects, including the arms of 
the general, and the flag of the expedition. From the powder and 
arms they should not have separated, but have divided that, against 

contingency. 

The Invasion a Failure. 

In the meantime, seven picked companies of Spanish troops of the 
line had been landed at Bahia Honda, which force was strengthened 
by contingents drawn from the neighborhood. The march of the 
invading band to Las Pozas was straggling and irregular. On reach- 
ing the village, they found it deserted by the inhabitants. A few 
carts were procured and sent back to Crittenden, that he might 
advance with the baggage. 

Lopez here learned from a countryman of the preparations making 
to attack him. It was no portion of his plan to bring the men into 
action with regular troops, in their present undisciplined state ; he 
proposed rather to take a strong position in the mountains, and there 
plant his standard as a rallying-point, and await the rising of the 
Cubans, and the return of the " Pampero " with reinforcements for 
active operations. 

As soon as Lopez learned the news from Bahia Honda, he dis- 
patched a peremptory order to Crittenden to hasten up with the rear- 
guard, abandoning the heavy baggage, but bringing off the cartridges 
and papers of the expedition. But the fatal delay of Crittenden 
separated him forever from the main body, only a small detachment of 



THE CONSPIRACY OF LOPEZ. 347 

his comrades (under Captain Kelly) ever reaching it. The next day, 
while breakfast was being prepared for them, the soldiers of the ex- 
pedition were suddenly informed, by a volley from one of the houses 
of the village, that the Spanish troops were upon them. 

A Spirited Battle. 

They flew to arms at once, and the Cuban company dislodged the 
yanguard of the enemy, who had fired, at the point of the bayonet^ 
their captain, Oberto, receiving his death-wound in the spirited affair. 
General Enna, a brave officer, in command of the Spanish troops, 
made two charges in column on the centre of the invaders' line, bu( 
was repulsed by that deadly fire which is the preeminent characteristic 
Df American troops. Four men alone escaped from the company 
heading the first column, and seventeen from that forming the advance 
of the second column of attack. The Spaniards were seized with a 
panic, and fled. 

Lopez's force in this action amounted to about two hundred and 
eighty men ; the Spaniards had more than eight hundred. The total 
loss of the former, in killed and wounded, was thirty-five ; that of the 
latter about two hundred men killed, and a large number wounded ! 
The invaders landed with about eighty rounds of cartridges each ; 
the Spanish dead supplied them with about twelve thousand more ; 
and a further supply was subsequently obtained at Las Frias ; the 
ammunition left with Crittenden was never recovered. In the battle 
of Las Pozas, General Enna's horse was shot under him, and his second 
in command killed. The invaders lost Colonel Downman, a brave 
American officer ; while General Pragay was wounded, and afterwards 
died in consequence. 

Though the invaders fired well and did terrible execution, they 
could not be prevailed upon to charge the enemy, and gave great 
trouble to the officers by their insubordination. The night after the 
battle, Captain Kelly came up with forty men, and announced that the 
Spanish troops had succeeded in dividing the rear-guard, and that the 
situation of Crittenden was unknown. It was not until some days 
afterwards that it was ascertained that Crittenden's party, attempting 



348 THE CONSPIRACY OF LOPEZ. 

to leave the Island in launches, had been made prisoners by a Spanish 
man-of-war. They were taken to Havana, and brutally shot at the 
Castle of Atares. 

About two o'clock on the 14th of August, the expedition resumed 
its march for the interior, leaving behind their wounded, who were 
afterwards killed and mutilated by the Spaniards. The second action 
with the Spanish troops occurred at the coffee-plantation of Las 
Frias, General Enna attacking with four howitzers, one hundred and 
twenty cavalry, and twelve hundred infantry. 

Wandering in the Mountains. 

The Spanish general attacked with his cavalry, but they were met 
by a deadly fire, thrown into utter confusion, and forced to retreat, 
carrying off the general mortally wounded. The panic of the cavalry 
communicated itself to the infantry, and the result was a complete 
rout. This was the work of about two hundred muskets, for many 
of Lopez's men had thrown away their arms on the long and toil- 
some march. 

The expedition, however, was too weak to profit by their desperate 
successes, and had no means of following up these victories. Plung- 
ing into the mountains, they wandered about for days, drenched with 
rain, destitute of food or proper clothing, until despair at last seized 
them. They separated from eacli other, a few steadfast comrades 
remaining by their leader. In the neighborhood of San Cristobal, 
Lopez finally surrendered to a party of pursuers. He was treated 
with every indignity by his captors, though he submitted to every- 
thing with courage and serenity. He was taken in a steamer from 
Mariel to Havana. 

Arrived here, he earnestly desired to obtain an interview with 
Concha, who had been an old companion-in-arms with him in Spain ; 
not that he expected pardon at his hands, but hoping to obtain a 
change in the manner of his death. His soul shrank from the infa- 
mous garrote, and he aspired to the indulgence of the cuatro tiros 
(four shots). 

Both the interview and the indulgence were refused, and he was 



THE CONSPIRACY OF LOPEZ. 349 

executed on the first day of September, at seven o'clock in the morn- 
ing, in the Punta, by that mode of punishment which the Spaniards 
esteem the most infamous of all. When he landed at Bahia Honda, 
he stooped and kissed the earth, with the fond salutation, " Querida 
Cuba " (dear Cuba) ! And his last words, pronounced in a tone of deep 
tenderness, were, " Muero por mi amada Cuba " (I die for my beloved 
Cuba. 

General Lopez was born in Venezuela, South America, in 1798 ; 
and hence, at the time of his execution, must have been about fifty- 
two years of age. He early became an adopted citizen of Cuba, and 
espoused one of its daughters. 

The remainder of the prisoners who fell into the hands of the 
authorities were sent to the Moorish fortress of Ceuta ; but Spain 
seems to have been ashamed of the massacre of Atares, and atoned 
for the ferocity of her colonial officials by leniency towards the mis- 
guided men of the expedition, granting them a pardon. 

Cause of the Conspiracy. 

This uprising, or rather attempt at revolution, was all due to the 
despotic policy pursued by Spain. It is impossible to conceive of 
any degree of loyalty that would be proof against the unparalleled 
burthens and atrocious system by which the mother country has ever 
loaded and weighed down her western colonists. They must be 
either more or less than men if they still cherish attachment to a 
foreign throne under such circumstances. But the fact simply is, 
the Creoles of Cuba are neither angels nor brutes; they are, it is true, 
a long-suffering and somewhat indolent people, lacking in a great 
degree the stern qualities of the Anglo-Saxon and the Anglo-Norman 
races, but nevertheless intelligent, if wanting culture, and not without 
those noble aspirations for independence and freedom, destitute of 
which they would cease to be men, justly forfeiting all claim to our 
sympathy and consideration. 

During the brief intervals in which a liberal spirit was manifested 
towards the colony by the home government, the Cubans gave proof 
of talent and energy, which, had they been permitted to attain their 



350 THE CONSPIRACY OF LOPEZ. 

full development, would have given them a highly honorable name 
and distinguished character. When the field for genius was com- 
paratively clear, Cuba produced more than one statesman and man of 
science, who would have done honor to a more favored land. 

But these cheering rays of light were soon extinguished, and the 
fluctuating policy of Spain settled down into the rayless and brutal 
despotism which has become its normal condition, and a double dark- 
ness closed upon the political and intellectual prospects of Cuba. 
But the people are not, and have not been, the supine and idle victims 
of tyranny which Spain depicts them. The reader will remember the 
several times they have attempted, manacled as they are, to free their 
limbs from the chains that bind them. It is insulting and idle to say 
that they might have been free if they had earnestly desired and 
mad? the effort for freedom. 

Parallel Oases in History. 

Who can say what would have been the result of our own struggle 
for independence, if Great Britain, at the outset, had been as well 
prepared for resistance as Spain has always been in Cuba? Who 
can say how long and painful would have been the struggle, if one of 
the most powerful military nations of Europe had not listened to our 
despairing appeal, and thrown the weight of her gold and her arms 
into the scale against our great enemy ? 

When we see how — as we do clearly — in a single night the well- 
contrived schemes of an adroit and unprincipled knave enslaved a 
brilliant and war-like people, like the French, who had more than 
once tasted the fruits of republican glory and liberty, who had borne 
their free flag in triumph over more than half of Europe, we can 
understand why the Cubans, overawed from the very outset, by the 
presence of a force vastly greater in proportion than that which 
enslaved France, have been unable to achieve their deliverance. 

Nay, more — when we consider the system pursued by the govern- 
ment of the Island, the impossibility of forming assemblages, and of 
concerting action, the presence of troops and spies everywhere, the 
compulsory silence of the press — the violation of the sanctity of cor- 



THE CONSPIRACY OF LOPEZ, 351 

respondence — we can only wonder that any effort has been made, any 
step taken in that fatal pathway of revolution which leads iniallibly 
to the garrote. 

If Cuba lies at present under the armed heel of despotism, we may 
be sure that the anguish of her sons is keenly aggravated by their 
perfect understanding of our own liberal institutions, and an earnest, 
if fruitless, desire to participate in their enjoyment. It is beyond the 
power of the Spanish government to keep the people of the Island in 
a state of complete darkness, as it seems to desire to do. The young 
men of Cuba educated at our colleges and schools, the visitors from 
the United States, and American merchants established on the Island, 
are all so many apostles of republicanism, and propagandists of 
treason and rebellion. 

They Only Await the Opportunity. 

Nor can the captains-general with all their vigilance exclude what 
they are pleased to call incendiary newspapers and documents from 
pretty extensive circulation among the " ever faithful." That liberal 
ideas and hatred of Spanish despotism are widely entertained among 
the Cubans is a fact no one who has passed a brief period among 
them can truthfully deny. They await only the means and the oppor- 
tunity to rise in rebellion against Spain. We are too far distant to 
see more than the light smoke, but those who have trodden the soil 
of Cuba have sounded the depths of the volcano. 

The history of the unfortunate Lopez expedition proves nothing 
contrary to this. The force under Lopez afforded too weak a nucleus, 
was too hastily thrown upon the Island, too ill prepared, and too 
untimely attacked, to enable the native patriots to rally round its 
standard, and thus to second the efforts of the invaders. With no 
ammunition nor arms to spare, recruits would have only added to the 
embarrassment of the adventurers. 

Yet had Lopez been joined by the brave but unfortunate Critten- 
den, with what arms and ammunition he possessed, had he gained 
some fastness where he could have been disciplining his command, 
Hntil further aid arrived, the adventure might have had a very differ- 



352 THE CONSPIRACY OF LOPEZ. 

ent termination from what we have recorded in an early chapter of 

this book. 

Disastrous as was the result of the Lopez expedition, it nevertne- 
iess proved two important facts : first, the bravery of the Cubans, a. 
small company of whom drove the enemy at the point of the 
bayonet ; and, secondly, the inefficiency of Spanish troops when 
opposed by resolute men. If a large force of picked Spanish troops 
were decimated and routed in two actions, by a handful of ill-armed 
and undisciplined men, taken by surprise, we are justified in believ- 
ing that if an effective force of ten thousand men, comprising the 
several arms of cavalry, artillery, and infantry, had been thrown into 
the Island, they would have carried all before them. With such a 
body of men to rally upon, the Cubans would have risen in the 
departments of the Island, and her best transatlantic jewel would have 
been torn fr)m the diadem of Spain. 

American Sympathy for Cuba. 

That the Spanish government lived in constant dread of a renewal 
of the efforts on the part of Americans and exiled Cubans to aid the 
disaffected people of the Island in throwing off its odious yoke, is a 
notorious fact, and there were evidences in the conduct of its 
officials towards those of this government that it regarded the latter 
as secretly favoring such illegal action. Yet the steps taken by our 
government to crush any such attempts were decided enough to 
satisfy any but a jealous and unreasonable power. 

President Fillmore, in his memorable proclamation, said, ' Such 
expeditions can only be regarded as adventures for plunder and 
robbery," and declaring Americans who engaged in them outlaws, 
informed them that " they would forfeit their claim to the protection 
of this government, or any interference in their behalf, no matter to 
what extremity they might be reduced in consequence of their illegal 
conduct." In accordance with this declaration, the brave Crittenden 
and his men were allowed to be shot at Atares, though they were not 
taken with arms in their hands, had abandoned the expedition, and 
were seeking to escape from the Island. 



THE CONSPIRACY OF LOPEZ. 353 

In a similar spirit President Pierce alluded to our relations with 
Spain in his inaugural address, in the following explicit terms : 
" Indeed it is not to be disguised that our attitude as a nation, and 
our position on the globe, render the acquisition of certain posses- 
sions, not within our jurisdiction, eminently important, if not, in the 
future, essential for the preservation of the rights of commerce and 
the peace of the world. Should they be obtained, it will be through 
no grasping spirit, but with a view to obvious national interest and 
security, and in a manner entirely consistent with the strictest ob- 
servance of national faith." 

Honorable Attitude of our Government. 

A subsequent proclamation, emanating from the same source, and 
warning our citizens of the consequences of engaging in an invasion 
of the Island, also attested the determination to maintain the integrity 
of our relations with an allied power. 

No candid student of the history of our relations with Spain can 
fail to be impressed by the frank and honorable attitude of our gov- 
ernment, or to contrast its acts with those of the Spanish officials of 
Cuba. A history of the commercial intercourse of our citizens with 
the Island would be a history of petty and also serious annoyances 
and grievances to which they have been subjected for a series of years 
by the Spanish officials, increasing in magnitude as the latter have 
witnessed the forbearance and magnanimity of our government. 

Not an American merchant or captain, who had dealings with Cuba, 
but could furnish his list of insults and outrages, some in the shape 
of illegal extortions and delays, others merely gratuitous ebullitions 
of spite and malice dictated by a hatred of our country and its citi- 
zens. Instances of outrage so flagrant occurred, that the executive 
felt bound to call the attention of Congress to them in a message, in 
which he pointed out the great evil which lay at the bottom, and also 
the remedy. 

" The offending party," he said, " is at our doors with large power 
for aggression, but none, it is alleged, for reparation. The source of 
redress is in another hemisphere : and the answers to our just com- 
23 



354 THE CONSPIRACY OF LOPEZ. 

plaints, made to the home government, are but the repetition of 
excuses rendered by inferior officials to the superiors, in reply to the 
representations of misconduct. In giving extraordinary power to 
them, she owes it to justice, and to her friendly relations to this gov- 
ernment, to guard with great vigilance against the exorbitant exercise 
of these powers, and in case of injuries to provide for prompt redress." 
It is very clear that if, in such cases as the seizure of a vessel and 
her cargo by the port officers at Havana, for an alleged violation of 
revenue laws, or even port usages, redress, in case of official miscon- 
duct, could only be had by reference to the home government in 
another part of the world, our trade with Cuba would be completely 
paralyzed. The delay and difficulty in obtaining such redress, in too 
many cases, prompted extortion on the one hand, and acquiescence 
to injustice on the other. 

Seizure of American Vessels. 

In 185 1 two American vessels were seized off Yucatan Dy the 
Spanish authorities on suspicion of being engaged in the Lopez ex- 
pedition ; in the same year the steamship " Falcon " was wantonly 
fired upon by a Spanish government vessel ; in 1852 the American 
mail bags were forcibly opened, and their contents examined by order 
of the Captain-General; the "Crescent City" was not allowed to land 
her passengers and mails, simply because the purser, Smith, was 
obnoxious to the government of the Island. 

The " Black Warrior," fired into on one voyage, was seized for a 
violation of a custom-house form. More than once, on specious pre- 
texts, were American sailors taken from American vessels and 
thrown into Spanish prisons. In short, the insults offered by Span* 
ish officials to our flag so multiplied that the popular indignation in 
the country reached an alarming height. 

It is difficult for a republic and a despotism, situated like the 
United States and Cuba, to live on neighborly terms ; and to control 
the indignation of the citizens of the former, proud and high-spirited, 
conscious of giving no offence, and yet subjected to repeated insults, 
is a task almost too great for the most adroit and pacific adrainistra- 



THE CONSPIRACY OF LOPEZ. 35, l > 

tion. Had she possessed more foresight and less pride, Spain would 
have long since sold the Island to the United States, and thereby 
have relieved herself of a weighty care and a most dangerous prop- 
erty. 

"So far from being really injured by the loss of the Island," said 
Hon. Edward Everett, in his able and well-known letter to the Brit- 
ish minister rejecting the proposition for the tripartite convention, 
" there is no doubt that, were it peacefully transferred to the United 
States, a prosperous commerce between Cuba and Spain, resulting 
from ancient associations and common language and tastes, would be 
far more productive than the best-contrived system of colonial taxa- 
tion. Such, notoriously, has been the result to Great Britain of the 
establishment of the independence of the United States." 

Bold Utterances in Congress. 

The following remarks are quoted from a conservative speech of 
Mr. Latham, then member of Congress from California. They pie- 
sent, with emphasis, some of the points we have lightly touched upon. 

" I admit that our relations with Spain, growing out of that Island 
(Cuba), are of an extremely delicate nature; that the fate of that 
Island, its misgovernment, its proximity to our shores, and the par- 
ticular institutions established upon it, are of vast importance to the 
peace and security of this country; and that the utmost vigilance in 
regard to it is not only demanded by prudence, but an act of 
imperative duty on the part of our government. The Mand of Cuba 
commands, in a measure, the Gulf of Mexico. 

" In case of a maritime war, in which the United States may be 
engaged, its possession by the enemy might become a source of infi- 
nite annoyance to us, crippling our shipping, threatening the great 
emporium of our southern commerce, and exposing our whole 
southern coast, from the capes of Florida to the mouth of the Rio 
Grande, to the enemy's cruisers. The geographical position of 
Cuba is such that we cannot, without a total disregard to our own 
safety, permit it to pass into the hands of any first-class power ; nay, 
that it would be extremely imprudent to allow it to pass even into 



356 THE CONSPIRACY OF LOPEZ. 

the hands of a power of the second rank, possessed of energy and 
capacity for expansion." 

" Rich in soil, salubrious in climate, varied in productions, the 
home of commerce," said the Hon. O. R. Singleton, of Mississippi, 
" Cuba seems to have been formed to become ' the very button on 
Fortune's cap.' Washed by the Gulf-stream on half her borders, 
with the Mississippi pouring out its rich treasures on one side, and 
the Amazon, destined to become a ' cornucopia,' on the other, — with 
the ports of Havana and Matanzas on the north, and the Isle of 
Pines and St. Jago de Cuba on the south, Nature has written upon 
her, in legible characters, a destiny far above that of a subjugated 
province of a rotten European dynasty. 

" Her home is in the bosom of the North American confederacy. 
Like a lost Pleiad, she may wander on for a few months or years in 
lawless, chaotic confusion ; but, ultimately, the laws of nature and of 
nations will vindicate themselves, and she will assume her true social 
and political condition, despite the diplomacy of statesmen, the 
trickery of knaves, or the frowns of tyrants. 

" Cuba will be free. The spirit is abroad among her people ; and, 
although they dare not give utterance to their thoughts, lest some 
treacherous breeze should bear them to a tyrant's ears, still they think 
and feel, and will act when the proper time shall arrive. The few 
who have dared ' to do or die ' have fallen, and their blood still marks 
the spot where they fell. Such has been the case in all great revolu- 
tionary struggles. Those who lead the van must expect a sharp en- 
counter before they break through the serried hosts of tyranny, and 
many a good man falls upon the threshold of the temple. 

" ' But freedom's battle once begun, 
Bequeathed from bleeding sire to son, 
Though baffled oft, is always won.' '* 



CHAPTER XXVII. 
The Bitter Ten- Years' War. 

SOON after the events narrated in the preceding chapter a 
Reformist party sprang up, desirous of coming to a settlement 
which snould insure the rights of the colony without impair- 
ing the interests of Spain, and after protracted efforts this party suc- 
ceeded in obtaining an inquiry at Madrid on the reforms needed by 
Cuba ; but the only alteration decreed was that of a new system of 
taxation, more depressive than the former. Great sympathy had 
long been shown for the Cubans by the people of the United States, 
and in 1848 President Polk had gone the length of proposing through 
the American ambassador at Madrid a transference of the Island to 
the United States for a sum of $1,000,000. 

A similar proposal was made ten years afterwards in the Senate — 
the sum suggested being $30,000,000 — but after debate it was with- 
drawn. When the Spanish revolution of 1868 broke out the ad- 
vanced party in Cuba at once matured their plans for the liberation 
of the Island from the military despotism of Spain, rose in arms at 
Yara in the district of Bayamo, and made a declaration of independ- 
ence, dated at Manzanillo, on the 10th of October of that year. This 
insurrection soon assumed formidable dimensions in the eastern por- 
tion of the Island ; on the 18th of October the town of Bayamo was 
taken, and on the 28th the jurisdiction of Holguin rose in arms. 

Early in November the patriots defeated a force which had been 
sent against them from Santiago de Cuba, and the greater number of 
the Spanish-American republics hastened to recognize the Cubans as 
belligerents. During subsequent years, in spite of the large and 
continued increase of the number of troops sent from Spain and 
organized by the Spanish authorities in the Island, the yearly cani- 
paigns up to the present time have shown that in the eastern inierioi 

367 



m THE BITTER TEN- YEARS' WAR. 

the Cuban patriots are practically invincible, and that by maintaining 
a guerrilla warfare they can attack and harass and even defeat their 
enemies who may be bold enough to act on the aggressive. 

In the long war above referred to, the insurgents were never 
accorded belligerent rights by any power strong enough to take 
Spain by the throat and force her to conduct operations under the 
reasonable humanities of modern war. The peculiar form of Cuba 
renders the control of every port easy to the Spanish navy ; and 
although battles were won and campaigns steadily conducted for ten 
years by the insurgents, the United States government chose to close 
its eyes to the truth. The real facts were, not that a state of war was 
not fully demonstrated, but the " Alabama " claims were in the air, and 
we were ready first to turn our backs on Cuba in order not to 
prejudice our money case against England, and after the payment of 
the award, the precedent was still too fresh. 

Balmaceda's Proclamation. 

The South American republics which recognized Cuban belli- 
gerency were powerless, and Europe remained indifferent. Thus 
Spain, left unrestrained by foreign powers, worked her will with a 
cynical frankness that laid bare her full savagery. The war having 
begun, General Count Balmaceda published the following proclama- 
tion : 

" Inhabitants of the country ! The reinforcements of troops that 
I have been waiting for have arrived ; with them I shall give protec- 
tion to the good, and punish promptly those that still remain in 
rebellion against the government of the metropolis. 

" You know that I have pardoned those who have fought us with 
arms ; that your wives, mothers, and sisters have found in me the 
unexpected protection that you have refused them. You know, also, 
that many of those we have pardoned have turned against us again. 

" Before such ingratitude, such villainy, it is not possible for me to 
be the man that I have been ; there is no longer a place for a falsified 
neutrality ; he that is not for me is against me ; and that my soldiers 
may know how to distinguish, you hear the order they carry: 



THE BITTER TEN-YEARS' WAR. 359 

" 1st. Every man, from the age of fifteen years upward, found away 
from his habitation (finca), and who does not prove a justified motive 
therefor, will be shot. 

" 2d. Every habitation unoccupied will be burned by the troops. 

" 3d. Every habitation from which does not float a white flag, as a 
signal that its occupants desire peace, will be reduced to ashes. 

" Women that are not living at their own homes, or at the houses 
of their relatives, will collect in the town of Jiguani, or Bayamo, 
where maintenance will be provided. Those who do not present 
themselves will be conducted forcibly. 

" The foregoing determinations will commence to take effect on the 
14th of the present month. 

" El Conde de Balmaceda. 
" Bayamo, April 4, 1869." 

Tyrants Quoting the Bible. 

Spanish tyrants are always deeply Christian, so that it can hardly 
be supposed that Balmaceda, in using solemn words of the Saviour, 
did so unconscious that the source of his phrase is the source of 
divine compassion to men. 

A month later, Mr. Fish, then Secretary of State, correctly branded 
this proclamation as " infamous," and wrote in a letter to Senor Lopez 
Roberts (Spanish Minister to the United States) : 

" In the interest of Christian civilization and common humanity, I 
hope that this document is a forgery. If it indeed be genuine, the 
President instructs me in the most forcible manner to protest against 
such mode of warfare." 

We have not forgotten the wanton butchery of Americans in the 
" Virginius " affair. It remains of value as a proved example with- 
out which we should be slow to believe that Spanish generals habit- 
ually shot insurgents captured in battle, as in fact they did. A pub- 
lished record of the Spanish barbarities of the war gives in detail a 
list of 2,927 " Martyrs to Liberty," — political prisoners executed 
during the war, — and of 4,672 captured insurgents whose fate has 
never been made known. There were 13,000 confiscations of estates, 



360 THE BITTER TEN-YEARS' WAR. 

1,000 being those of ladies whose only crime was the love of Cuban 
liberty. 

The experience of American newspaper correspondents, like 
O'Kelly, in rebel camps and Spanish prisons, confirms the revolting 
character of the Spanish conduct of the war ; and there are extant 
letters of Spanish officers which throw gleams of light into the dark- 
oess of the period. A specimen or two are enough. 

Last Words for Cuba. 

Jesus Rivocoba, under date of September 4, 1869, writes: 

" We captured seventeen, thirteen of whom were shot outright ; on 
dying they shouted, ' Hurrah for Free Cuba, hurrah for Independ- 
ence.' A mulatto said, ' Hurrah for Cespedes.' On the following 
day we killed a Cuban officer and another man. Among the thirteen 
that we shot the first day were found three sons and their father ; the 
father witnessed the execution of his sons without even changing 
color, and when his turn came he said he died for the independence 
of his country. On coming back we brought along with us three 
carts filled with women and children the families of those we had 
shot ; and they asked us to shoot them, because they would rather 
die than live among Spaniards." 

Pedro Fardon, another officer, who entered perfectly into the spirit 
of the service he honored, writes on September 22, 1869 : 

" Not a single Cuban will remain in this Island, because we shoot 
all those we find in the fields, on the farms, and in every hovel." 

And again, on the same day, the same officer sends the following 
good news to his old father: 

" We do not leave a creature alive where we pass, be it man or 
animal. If we find cows, we kill them ; if horses, ditto ; if hogs, 
ditto ; men, women, or children, ditto ; as to the houses, we burn 
them : so every one receives his due, — the men in balls, the animals 
in bayonet-thrusts. The Island will remain a desert." 

Balmaceda himself paid a visit to the plantation home of the Mora 
family, and, there being no male patriots on whom to wreak his lust 
for blood, butchered and burned the sisters Mora and left their home 



THE BITTER TEN-YEARS' WAR. 361 

in ashes. A mere enumeration of authentic cases of Spanish inhu- 
manity in the last insurrection would fill volumes and exhibit one of 
the blackest episodes of history. 

The following paragraphs are from an able article by Mr. Clarence 
King, on the question, " Shall Cuba be Free ? " and published in 
" The Forum " : 

" In Spanish character survives a continuous trait of the Pagan 
cruelty of Rome, reinforced and raised to fiendish intensity by the 
teachings of the Inquisition. Had the United States, by one stroke 
of her pen, recognized Cuban belligerency, as was her moral duty, 
all the Caligula-Torquemada atrocities would have been stopped, and 
the war for freedom gone on to victory unstained by the blood of 
women and children. President Grant lost this noblest opportunity 
of his civil career by miserable anxiety about the ' Alabama ' claims. 

Willing to Stake Everything. 

" Cubans are under no delusion as to the fateful step they have 
taken ; the men who survived the scourge of the ten-years' war, in 
rushing to arms again, act in full consciousness of what they are 
doing, and willingly face the cruel odds. If this were a first effort to 
acquire freedom it might be attributed to the over-confident enthusi- 
asm of a brave people inexperienced in war and its train of suffering 
and grief, and ignorant of the combination of money, material, and 
men their enemy can hurl against her. 

" But these are the very people who half a generation ago fought 
ten years, and felt the shock of 200,000 Spanish soldiers, and suffered 
as no modern combatants have done. They enter this war as bravely 
as before, but with eyes open and with memory loaded down with 
visions of agony and blood. Of that adoration of liberty which is 
the only sure foundation of modern representative government, this 
insurrection is as pure and lofty an example as the course of human 
history can show. 

" That all the material advantages of war are against them can 
easily be seen. In the first place, Cuba is a long, narrow Island 
about seven hundred miles in east-and-west extent, by a north-and 



362 THE BITTER TEN-YEARS' WAR. 

south breadth of twenty-one to one hundred and twenty miles It 
possesses a truly remarkable series of great and small harbors : the 
more important ones roomy and landlocked, like those of Havana, 
Cienfuegos, Santiago, and others of the type ; and the small but often 
admirable ones strung at short intervals along the whole 2,000 miles 
of sea-coast. The greater harbors are fortified. 

" Spain has a respectable navy, and has, in fact, occupied all the 
chief and several of the small harbors with fifteen vessels of war. She 
Aas, besides, a fleet of light-draught gunboats, partly in use and partly 
under contract on the Clyde, and soon to be available for cruising 
perpetually along the short intervals of shore between the various 
harbors which are occupied by larger war-vessels. In her centuries 
of neglect of useful public works in Cuba she has built practically no 
wagon-roads, so that if the insurgents possessed artillery, which they 
cannot obtain, they could not, save by an almost superhuman effort, 
move it to concentration for the capture of one of the ports. 

Harbors Blockaded. 

"Spain, on the other hand, holds the few rudimentary roads within 
the theatre of war, and whatever use of field guns is possible is there- 
fore for Spain alone. Not only is every important harbor under 
effective blockade against insurgent people and freight, but it is 
a secure base of supplies. Practically seventy miles would be a 
maximum distance for any considerable operation from a safely- 
maintained — even an unthreatened — base, and the average cannot be 
above fifty miles. 

" Spain therefore begins her campaign to quell the Cubans with a 
cordon of impregnable bases, to which at all times she has unre- 
stricted access by a sea on which not a single Cuban flag floats, 
except on some hovering, unarmed sea-tug or timid blockade-runner 
which avoids the ports and creeps in under cover of darkness to bring 
a handful of patriots or some boxes of arms. By means of this com- 
plete chain of fortified and occupied harbors, Spain can pour in the 
whole resources of the nation in men, supplies, and munitions, without 
a moment's interruption or a shadow of danger. These resources are 



THE BITTER TEN-YEARS' WAR. 363 

a peninsula population of 17,000,000 to draw from, and a standing 
army, which, on a peace basis, carries 115,735 men, and reaches in 
nominal war resource something more than 1,000,000. 

" Financial advantage is also wholly with Spain. Although bent 
under a debt of over a thousand millions of dollars, and her fiscal 
affairs in such wretched condition that there has been no parliamen- 
tary endorsement of expenditures since 1865-67, and the Tribunal of 
Accounts has not dared to publish the national books since 1869, — 
nevertheless Spain is a nation still possessing the shattered remnants 
of a public credit. 

" She can vote bonds, and there is even yet a price at which they 
can be sold. Her soldiery face death with courage, in spite of 
Napier's epigram that " Spaniards are brave behind walls, cowards in 
the field, and robbers always," — their conduct in action in Cuba dis- 
proving the middle term of an otherwise correct characterization. 

" The Spanish Military Gazette gives the figures of the national 
forces in Cuba as follows : 60,000 regulars, the chief part of which 
are infantry, but including cavalry, 2,596; artillery, 621; engineers, 
415; public-order officers, 676 ; civil guards, 4,400 ; marines, 2,700; 
guerrillas, 1,152 ; the whole under one captain-general, seven division 
generals, one auditor, one military intendant, one sanitary inspector, 
and the usual complement of staff and line officers. Besides this 
there are about 40,000 Cuban militia recruited from the loyal classes 
and used chiefly for garrison purposes. There are fifteen warships 
and nineteen vessels in purchase. 

"All Cuba has a population of about 1,600,000, of which more 
than half are in garrison cities and regions so overawed by the power 
of Spain that they cannot successfully rise until the national forces 
are shattered in the field. Of the portion in revolt (about two-thirds 
of the area and one-third of the population) it is probable that of the 
total number of a sex, age and physical condition to bear arms, the 
figure would not exceed the actual peace force of the Spanish army, 
to say nothing of the 17,000,000 which the enemy have to draw 
upon. 

" Impoverished by centuries of financial oppression, the Cuban 



364 THE BITTER TEN-YEARS' WAS.. 

patriots are poor, their slender resources are the sum of innumerable 
small contributions. Few in number, empty of purse, they stand 
within this tight-drawn ring of Spanish fire. Cut off from any but 
dangerous and clandestine introduction of arms and medicines; lack- 
ing supplies to form a base ; with not a cent to pay a single soldier 
or officer of their little army ; with only a skeleton medical corps, — 
in short, almost nothing to make war with, — these brave souls are 
facing, not death only, but Spanish death. 

One Great Graveyard. 

"The region under revolution is one great graveyard of those 
fallen in the ten years' revolt, yet Cubans are undaunted by the num- 
bers or resources of their foe. Beside this far-reaching patience of 
valor a single act of heroism like Thermopylae is pastime ; compared 
with the raggedness, hunger, and privation which Cubans bravely 
choose to accept, Valley Forge was a garden party. For ten years 
these same men with the same slender resources held the arms and 
pride of Spain at bay, and then capitulated to promises which were 
made only to be broken. 

"Of Spain the insurgents have no fear; but if the United States 
rigorously prevents the shipment of arms and munitions from our 
shore, we can discourage, we can delay the triumph of patriotism, but 
in the end we cannot prevent it. In this war, or the next, or the 
next, Cuba will be free. Although these men are our near neigh- 
bors, although we are to them the chosen people who have won inde- 
pendence and grown great in freedom, yet they have never made the 
slightest appeal to us for active aid in their struggle. 

" They expect no good-Samaritan offices. They look for no gal- 
lant American Lafayette to draw sword for them and share the pen- 
ury and hardships of their camps. They ask nothing. But I happen 
to know that they are at a loss to comprehend how a great people to 
whom Heaven has granted the victorious liberty for which they are 
fighting and dying, should let months pass in cold half-silence, with- 
out one ringing ' God-speed !' to cheer them on into battle. 

'-' \t is doubtless explicable enough that a people whose own busi» 



THE BITTER TEN-YEARS' WAR. 365 

ness is so essentially materialistic as ours, and who mind it so ab- 
sorbedly, should remain carelessly ignorant of the real Cuban ques- 
tion and the moral attitude of the Island people; but is it fair, is it 
generous, is it worthy of the real blood of freedom that still flows 
from the big American heart? Already a change is coming, and 
isolated expressions of genuine sympathy are becoming frequent. 
The time will come, and that not long hence, when the voice of 
America will ring out clear and true. 

u The Cuban war hangs before us an issue which we cannot 
evade. Either we must stand as the friend of Spain, and, by our 
thorough prevention of the shipment of war supplies to the insur- 
gents, aid and countenance the Spanish efforts to conquer Cuba into 
continued sorrow, or we must befriend Cuba in her heroic battle to 
throw off a mediaeval yoke. Let us not deceive ourselves ! Spaif 
alone cannot conquer Cuba ; she proved that in ten years of misera- 
ble failure. If we prevent the sending of munitions to Cuba, and 
continue to allow Spain to buy ships and arms and ammunition here 
it is we who will conquer Cuba, not Spain. It is we who will crush 
liberty! 

" To secure victory for Cuba it is necessary for us, in my opinion, 
to take but a single step ; that is, to recognize her belligerency ; she 
will do all the rest. That step the government will doubtless hesitate 
to take at the present state of the struggle, because as yet the insur- 
gents have neither instituted a government nor established a capital. 
In the last insurrection they did both, besides maintaining a state of 
war for ten years. 

" That a state of war exists is virtually admitted by the proclama- 
tion of Governor-General Campos, who in addition to the army under 
his command, consisting of about 60,000 regulars and 40,000 militia, 
calls for heavy reinforcements, and the Spanish war office has been 
obliged to order out the first class of reserves. Moreover, a com- 
mander-in-chief routed in battle and fleeing, his ' rear-guard fighting 
bravely all the way into Bayamo/ to use his own words, connotes 
nothing less than war. 

"When the Cuban government is set up, as it soon will be, we 



366 THE BITTER TEN-YEARS' WAR. 

shall have equally as good international authority and precedent to 
recognize a state of war in the Island as Spain did for our own Con- 
federate insurgents forty days after the shot on Fort Sumter. We 
can return to her, in the interests of liberty, the compliment she then 
paid us in behalf of slavery. The justice will be poetic. With all 
possible decorum, with a politeness above criticism, with a firmness 
wholly irresistible, we should assist Spain out of Cuba and out of the 
hemisphere as effectually as Lincoln and Seward did the French 
invaders of Mexico in the sixties. 

" Moreover, according to American precedent, neither a state of 
hostilities nor the setting up of a civil or military organization is 
positively necessary to entitle a people to belligerent rights ; for 
before either of these conditions was established in 1838, we went so 
far as to issue a proclamation for ' prevention of unlawful interference 
in the civil war in Canada.' 

" Our record toward Spain is clear. We heartily approved when 
George Canning invoked the Holy Alliance to prevent her from re- 
covering her American provinces, and in 1825 we refused to guaran- 
tee her perpetual possession of Cuba in exchange for commercial 
concessions to ourselves. 

" Our obligations to her are measured by an easily terminable 
treaty, which, however, while in force, in no way prevents us from 
recognizing Cuba's belligerency. Is it difficult for us to decide 
between free Cuba and tyrant Spain ? Why not fling overboard 
Spain and give Cuba the aid which she needs, and which our treaty 
with Spain cannot prevent ? Which cause is morally right ? — which 
is manly ? — which is American ?" 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 
Butchery of the Crew of the " Virginius.** 

ONE of the most cold-blooded massacres on record was that o» 
the crew of the " Virginius," a ship that was rendering aid to 
the insurgents and was captured by the Spanish. Nothing in 
all the annals of crime, not even excepting the bloody and savage mas- 
sacres of Armenia, was more brutal or inhuman than this wholesale 
slaughter of the gallant captain, officers and crew of that ill-fated 
vessel. Even though forfeiting their lives, the manner in which they 
were executed shocked the civilized world. After the first firing 
some were left still alive, yet writhing in the throes of death. These 
in some instances had the muzzles of guns rammed into their mouths 
and their heads were blown off. 

With such an inhuman record, and many others to match it in the 
long ages of Spanish barbarities in Cuba, it is not strange that both 
the sympathy and the indignation of the American people have, from 
time to time, been aroused to the highest pitch, and it is only by 
national forbearance, unjustified as many believe, that Cuba has not 
been snatched from the grasp of her tormentor. The following is the 
full and tragic story of the butchery of the crew of the " Virginius." 

In 1873 American sympathy for the Cuban struggle for freedom 
ran high, and we were apparently near war with Spain. To go further 
back, twenty years before there had been a proposition for the United 
States to buy Cuba, and it had been haughtily if not contemptuously 
rejected by Spain. That proposition was the outgrowth of the desire 
of the Southern political leaders to increase the slave territory and 
strengthen the pro-slavery representation in Congress by the manu- 
facture of the new States carved out of the Island of Cuba. 

In 1873 the situation had changed for the better in the United 
States as well as in Cuba. The United States had repudiated slavery. 

863 



368 THE "VIRGINIUS" BUTCHERY. 

America's sympathy with Cuba's aspiiations for independence, and 
their desire for the acquisition of Cuba, so far as such desire existed, 
was sincere, and inspired by lofty if not wholly disinterested impulses. 
This sympathy animated the American people without regard to 
partisan affiliations and without accruing benefit to either of the great 
political parties at the expense of the other. Singularly enough — 
and the fact is now generally forgotten — Spain was at that time a re- 
public under Emilio Castelar. 

Unfounded Hopes. 

Americans believed that the leopard was going to change its spots. 
They were urged to wait; that once peace was restored Cuba would 
share the enlightenment that had begun to shed its beams over Spain 
and her possessions. All Castelar's eloquence and sophistry were 
employed in the effort to impress this view upon those in authority 
in Washington, and not without effect. 

But Cubans resident in this country, especially in New York and 
other coast cities, nearly all of them naturalized, and all of them 
rich, thought they knew Spain as well as Castelar, and took no stock 
in her conversion to republican principles, much less in her willing- 
ness either under a republican or monarchical form of government, to 
do anything for Cuba in the way of loosening the ties binding 
her like whip-cords, not like ties of affection, to the mother country. 

They encouraged their brethren in chains to revolt. They sent 
money and men and arms for the reinforcement of the revolutionists. 
Filibustering expeditions were common. One of the best ships en- 
gaged in these expeditions was the " Virginius," flying the Ameri- 
can flag, commanded by Captain Frey, of New Orleans, an American 
citizen and a veteran of our civil war, and manned in part by Ameri- 
can and British sailors. The " Virginius " slipped in and out of 
Cuban harbors with wonderful success ; but the pitcher went to the 
well once too often. 

In October, 1873, the " Virginius " was captured in neutral waters, 
near the British Island of Jamaica, towed into Santiago de Cuba, 
declared a pirate and fifty-two of the officers and crew were executed 



THE "VIRGINIUS" BUTCHERY. 369 

against the protest of the United States Consul. The whole thing 
was irregular. A fraudulent use was made of the Stars and Stripes, 
and the flag could afford the ship no protection. International law 
had been set at naught by capturing the ship in neutral waters, and 
in executing the captured, some of whom were naturalized citizens ol 
the United States. 

The incident served to inform the world of the wholesale, lawless 
butchery going on in Cuba, and distinguished by Spain as legitimate 
war. The four principal officers, Gen. Washington Ryan, Varona, 
Jesus del Sol and Pedro Cespedes, were marched to the slaughter- 
house of Santiago de Cuba and murdered. They were in irons 
when they were marched against the low, square structure of adobe. 
Fifteen feet above them the red tile roof projected. At their feet 
there was a ditch to catch rain-drops. 

Shocking Barbarities. 

They were made to kneel, facing the wall. The wall above them 
was pitted deep with the bullets that Hew over their heads. As they 
fell into the ditch the cavalry rode over their warm bodies, and 
military wagons crunched and slipped on the bodies. Negroes cut 
off their heads and carried them on pikes through the city, and the 
mutilated bodies were dumped into a pit of quicklime. 

The North American continent thrilled with indignation in view of 
this outrage. The press voiced the demand of the people for 
apology, indemnity, revenge and the recognition of the Cubans, un- 
organized as they were, as belligerents. The government seemed to 
share the popular feeling to a considerable degree. War between 
Spain and the United States seemed to be imminent and unavoidable. 

Our poor little navy, consisting of wooden vessels of antiquated 
models and of ironclads dusty from disuse, was patched up as quickly 
as possible and ordered to rendezvous at Key West, whence it might 
descend upon Cuba in a night. Admiral Scott commanded the 
North Atlantic Squadron, such as it was. The flagship was the old 
" Worcester," Capt. W. D. Whiting. The " Wyoming " was there 
under Commander Cushing, and the " Juniata/' under Lieut.-Com- 
24 



370 THE "VIRGINIUS" BUTCHERS 

mander Merriman. Capt. Jouett commanded the side-wheeler 
"Powhatan," with the " Ossipee," the "Pawnee" and some others, 
eleven or twelve in all. The dispatch boats were the " Pinta," Capt. 
Gorringe (afterward of " Obelisk " celebrity) ; the " Dispatch," Capt 
Frederick Rodgers, and the " Fortune," Lieut.-Commander F. M. 
Green. Then there were the ironclads which came very near swamp- 
ing on their tedious cruise down the coast. 

Only for a Bluff. 

These war vessels, insignificant as they appear in retrospect and 
unformidable as they must have looked then in the eyes of naval 
experts, made a very pretty and warlike show as they lay at anchor 
in the harbor of Key West, and i( they had put in an appearance 
promptly at Havana would have commanded some respect from the 
expected enemy. But a half bluff is worse than no bluff at all. 

It was soon apparent that the government at Washington did not 
mean business any farther than requiring the surrender of the 
" Virginius," and of the surviving members of her crew, and an in- 
demnity, trivial in amount, for the blood of those American citizens 
whose nationality could be proved beyond peradventure. The State 
Department did not share the belligerent disposition of the Navy 
Department. Secretary Fish was able, patriotic and incorruptible, 
but somehow or other the legal representatives of the Spanish 
Government managed to block the way, and Spanish diplomacy, then 
as now, was plausible and resourceful. 

Whatever the cause, the naval display at Key West was feeble and 
ineffective. Our flagship, at least, like the British flagship, should 
have gone to Havana. As a matter of fact, Admiral Scott had to 
make an excuse and get express authority to send over a dispatch 
boat, and was dependent upon the newspaper correspondents, or on? 
of them, for news of what was going on in his immediate front. 

From the versatile pen of Major Moses P. Handy we quote t 
graphic description of the bloody tragedy : 

" There was as much newspaper enterprise then as now, although 
you may not think so. Every New York journal sent corre- 



THE "VTRGINIUS" BUTCHERY. 371 

spondents to the front. The New York ' Herald ' was repiesented 
at first at Key West by W. B. Stephens and Karl Case, who were 
reinforced by James A. Cowardin and ' Modoc ' Fox, and finally by 
J. A. McGahan, one of the most famous of war correspondents, who 
came from the European station on one of our men-of-war, and 
Julius Chambers. The ' Tribune ' bureau was in my charge, and 
we also had Ralph Keeler at Santiago de Cuba and W. P. Sullivan, 
now a New York broker, at Havana. McGahan, Stephens, Cowardin, 
Case and Fox are now dead. 

Rivalry to get the News. 

" The race between the correspondents for news was very hot. 
Every man as the representative of his newspaper was on his mettle, 
and enterprise was at a premium. McGahan had the advantage of 
being ward-room guest on a man-of-war. Fox was paymaster's yeo- 
man on the ' Pinta,' the fastest boat in the navy. When we learned 
that the ' Virginius ' was to be surrendered we all realized that that 
event would end the campaign. The point then was to be in at the 
death, and to obtain the best if not the exclusive story of the cere- 
mony and attendant circumstances. The lips of the government 
officials were sealed as to the time and place appointed. 

'* In fact the programme was arranged at Washington by the Sec- 
retary of State and the Spanish Minister and communicated con- 
fidentially to Admiral Scott. However, I managed to get at the 
secret, and, thus armed, ' stowed away ' on the ' Dispatch,' which 
was the vessel appointed to receive the surrender. Captain Rodgers 
commanded the ' Dispatch/ but the receiving officer was Captain 
Whiting. The fleet captain and the other officers of the detail were 
Lieutenant Adolph Marix, Master George A. Calhoun and Assistant 
Engineer N. H. Lambdin. With them were thirty-nine sailor men 
from the ' Pawnee,' who were to man the surrendered vessel as a 
prize crew. All of these people except Captain Whiting were 
io-norant of their instructions, not even knowing their destination, and 
fhe pilot taken aboard before leaving Key West had sealed orders. 

" We left Key West on a Sunday night at 10 o'clock. We were in 



372 THE " VIRGINIUS" BUTCHERY. 

the open sea before I ventured to make my appearance on deck, pre- 
sent myself to the officers, declare myself a stowaway, and verify my 
information as to their mission. The next morning at io o'clock the 
blue hills of the Cuban coast rose above the horizon and the bow of 
the ' Dispatch ' was directed toward Bahia Honda, the obscure little 
port selected for the function. 

" It was about noon when we passed an old fort called Murillo, 
commanding the entrance to the harbor. Speed was then slackened, 
and the vessel crept cautiously along the narrow, but clearly marked 
channel, which leads to the smooth water where the ' Virginius ' was 
supposed to be lying. 

Raising the Stars and. Stripes. 

" As soon as the ' Dispatch ' was sighted from the shore, the Span- 
ish flag, bearing the crown, notwithstanding the republic abolishing 
that monarchical emblem, was flung to the breeze. We discovered a 
black side-wheel steamship lying about a mile beyond the fort. It 
was the 'Virginius.' No other craft, except two or three coasting 
steamers, or fishing smacks, was then visible, and it was not until 
we were about to come to anchor that we discerned a Spanish sloop- 
of-w?,r lying close under the shore, about two and a half miles away. 

" Very soon a boat from the Spanish man-of-war came alongside 
of the ' Virginius,' and immediately the Stars and Stripes were raised 
by Spanish hands, and again floated over the vessel which carried 
Ryan and his unfortunate comrades to their death. At the same 
moment we saw, by the aid of field-glasses, another boat let down 
from the Spanish vessel. It proved to be the captain's gig, and 
brought to the ' Dispatch ' a naval officer in full uniform, who proved 
to be Senor de la Camera, of the Spanish sloop-of-war ' Favorita.' 
He stepped briskly forward, and was met at the gangway by Captain 
Rodgers and Captain Whiting. 

" After an exchange of courteous salutations, Commander de la 
Camera remarked that he had received a copy of the protocol pro- 
viding for the surrender of the ' Virginius,' and that the surrender 
might now be considered to have taken place. Captain Whiting 



THE "VIRGINIUS" BUTCHERY. 373 

replied that under his instructions the following day was named for 
the surrender, and that he could not receive it until that time. Mean- 
while he would thank the Spanish officer to continue in possession. 
Nine o'clock on Tuesday morning was then agreed upon as the hour, 
and after informing the American officer that there was coal enough 
on board of the ' Virginius ' to last six days, salutes were exchanged 
and the Spanish officer retired. 

" The next morning, half an hour ahead of time, the gig of the 
' Favorita' came over to the ' Virginius.' It contained oarsmen and 
a single officer. As the latter stepped on deck a petty officer and 
half a dozen men, who had stood watch on the ' Virginius ' during 
the night, went over the side and remained in a dingy awaiting orders. 
At 9 precisely by the bells the American flag again flew to the flag- 
staff of the ' Virginius,' and at the same moment a boat containing 
Capt. Whiting and Lieut. Marix put away from the ' Dispatch.' As 
they ascended the accommodation ladder of the 'Virginius' the 
single man on deck, who proved to be Seiior de la Camera, advanced 
and made a courteous salute. 

Account of the Surrender. 

" The officers then read their respective instructions, and Capt. de 
la Camera remarked that in obedience to the requirements of the 
government and in execution of the provisions of the protocol, he 
had the honor to turn over the steamer ' Virginius ' to the American 
authorities. Capt. Whiting accepted, and, learning that a receipt was 
required, gave one in due form. A word or two more was spoken, 
and the Spaniard stepped over the side, signalled to his oarsmen, and 
in ten minutes was again upon the deck of his own vessel. Beside 
the surrendering and receipting officers, I was the only witness of the 
ceremony. 

" While the Spanish officer was courtesy itself, we were all im- 
pressed with the fact that the ceremony was lacking in dignity, and 
that the Spaniards had purposely made that lack as conspicuous 
as they dared. It appeared that the 'Virginius' was towed 
to Havana by the first-class man-of-war 'Isabel la Catolica/ the 



374 THE "VIRGINIUS" BUTCHERY. 

commander of which retired immediately and left the surrender to be 
made by the commander of the ' Favorita,' which had been in the 
vicinity of Bahia Honda for several months engaged in surveying 
duty. The surrender should have taken place either at Santiago de 
Cuba or at Havana, and a Spanish officer of like rank with Capt. 
Whiting should have discharged the duty. 

Bad Condition of the Vessel. 

" A quick survey by our officers showed the ' Virginius ' to be in 
a most filthy condition. She was stripped of almost everything 
moveable save a few vermin, which haunted the mattresses and cush- 
ions in cabin and staterooms, and half a dozen casks of water. The 
decks were caked with dirt, and nuisances recently committed, com- 
bined with mold and decomposition, caused a foul stench in the fore- 
castle and below the hatches. In the cabin, however, the odor of 
carbolic acid gave evidence that an attempt had been made to make 
that part of the vessel habitable for the temporary custodians of the 
ship. 

" Our officers were reluctant to put the men into the dirty fore- 
castle and stowed them away into hardly more agreeable quarters 
afforded by the staterooms of Ryan and his butchered companions. 
Some attempt seemed to have been made, as shown by the engineer- 
ing survey, to repair the machinery, but a few hours' work put the 
engines in workable order. The ship was leaking considerably and 
the pumps had to be kept going constantly to keep the water down. 
After a few hours of hard work we got under way, but had only gone 
20O yards when the engines suddenly refused to do duty, and it 
became necessary for the ' Dispatch ' to take us in tow. 

" As we passed the fort at the entrance to the harbor the Spanish 
flag was rather defiantly displayed by that antiquated apology for a 
fortification, and there was no salute for the American flag, either 
from the fort or the surrendering sloop-of-war. 

" We had a hard time that night — those of us who were aboard 
the ' Virginius.' It seemed hardly possible that we could keep 
afloat until morning. During the night the navy tug ' Fortune/ 



THE " VIRGINIUS " BUTCHERY. 375 

from Key West, met us and remained with the convoy. At noon the 
next day, when we were about thirty miles south-southeast of Dry 
lortugas, the vessels separated, the ' Virginius ' and ' Dispatch ' 
going to Tortugas and the ' Fortune ' returning, with me as a soli- 
tary passenger, to Key West whence I had the honor of reporting 
the news to the Admiral. 

Cheers from Excited Spaniards. 

" It was the general opinion among the naval officers that the 
Sania had endeavored to belittle the whole proceeding by smug- 
gling the ' Virginius ' out of Havana, by selecting an obscure harbor 
not a port of entry as the place of surrender and by turning the duty 
of surrender over to a surveying sloop, while the ' Tornado,' which 
made the capture, lay in the harbor of Havana and the ' Isabel la 
Catolica,' which had been selected as convoy, steamed back to 
Havana under cover of the night. The American officers and 
American residents in Cuba and Key West agreed that our govern- 
ment ought to have required that the ' Virginius ' should be sur- 
rendered with all the released prisoners on board either at Santiago 
de Cuba, where the 'Tornado' brought in her ill-gotten prey and 
where the inhuman butcheries were committed, or in Havana where 
she was afterward taken in triumph and greeted with the cheers of 
the excited Spaniards over the humiliation of the Americans. 

"An attempt was made to take the 'Virginius' to some northern 
port, but the old hulk was not equal to the journey. On the way 
no pumping or caulking could stop her leaks, and she foundered in 
mid-ocean. The government had been puzzled to know what dis- 
position to make of her, and there was great relief in official circles 
to know that she was out of the way. 

" The surrender of the surviving prisoners of the massacre took 
place in the course of time at Santiago, owing more to British insist- 
ence than to our feeble representations. As to the fifty-three who 
were killed, Spain never gave us any real satisfaction. For a long 
time the Madrid government unblushingly denied that there had 
been any killing, and when forced to acknowledge the fact, they put 



376 THE "VIRGINIUS" BUTCHERY. 

us off with preposterous excuses. 'Butcher Borrel/ by whose 
orders the outrage was perpetrated, was considered at Madrid to 
have been justified by circumstances. It was pretended that orders 
to suspend the execution of Ryan and his associates were ' unfortu- 
nately ' received too late, owing to interruption of telegraph lines by 
the insurgents to whose broad and bleeding shoulders an attempt 
was thus made to shift the responsibility. 

'Butcher' Borrel Promoted. 

"There was a nominal repudiation of Borrel's act and a promise 
was made to inflict punishment upon 'those who have offended;' 
but no punishment was inflicted upon anybody. The Spanish Govern- 
ment, with characteristic double dealing, resorted to procrastination, 
prevarication and trickery, and thus gained time until new issues 
effaced in the American mind the memory of old wrongs unavenged. 
Instead of being degraded Borrel was promoted. Never to this day 
has there been any adequate atonement by Spain, much less an 
apology or expression of regret for the ' Virginius' massacre. 

" Newspaper correspondents having figured in this sketch, I cannot 
close it without referring to the fate of one of my colleagues whose 
death undoubtedly lies at the door of the Spaniards. Ralph Keeler 
was his name. He was more magazinist than newspaper man, and 
had achieved reputation by his stories of actual experiences in vaga- 
bondage, written, I think, for the ' Atlantic Monthly.' We all ex- 
pected great things of him as a war correspondent. 

"After the surrender of the ' Virginius,' he was expected to cover 
the surrender of the prisoners, but having some misgivings as to 
whether he would understand what was required to get ahead in the 
dispatch of the news to New York, I laid plans to cover any default 
by securing a report from another source. My misgivings had more 
substantial foundation than I knew, for poor Keeler was probably 
dead at the moment when his instructions were filed in the telegraph 
office. 

" He disappeared as effectually as if the earth had opened and 
swallowed him. How, why or when he died his friends never knew. 



THE 'VIRGINIUS" BUTCHERY. 377 

It is believed, however, that he was another victim of the hatred 
which in those days inflamed the Spanish breast against every citizen 
of the United States. Circumstantial evidence indicated that he was 
assassinated by Spanish volunteers, and I have always thought of my 
genial and gifted colleague as one of the murdered Americans now 
vaguely remembered as the victims of the Spanish bloodthirstiness 
in the matter of the unavenged ' Virginius ' incident." 



part in. 

Picturesque Cuba: 

Manners and Customs of the People. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 
First Impressions of the Island. 

CUBA ! Beautiful " Queen of the Antilles," the land of Jie cocoa 
and the palm — of the golden banana and the luscious orange 
— well may the hearts of thy sons and the dark, lustrous eyes 
of thy maidens glow and glisten with pride at the praises of thy 
sunny Isle ! How few Americans there are who have formed any 
correct conception of " Life in the Tropics!" To the generality of 
us, Cuba suggests the idea of heat and yellow fever, of venomous 
reptiles and insects, slaves and sugar, oranges and ever-blooming 
flowers — an idea in a great degree erroneous. 

Few, indeed, can realize that, leaving the snow-clad hills of New 
York harbor in the depth of winter, in three and a half or four days 
they will be sailing over the placid waters of the bay of Havana, 
under a tropic sun, which even in mid-winter rivals that of our own 
land in its season of dog-day heat, and will see around them the 
verdure-clad hills, with the graceful palm and cocoa-tree clear against 
the pure blue sky of the beautiful Isle, so truly called "the most 
precious jewel of the Spanish crown." 

Yet there are many Americans who, each year, either for purposes 

of health, business, or pleasure, flock to Havana, all glad to avoid the 

inclement weather of the icy north ; and even with all their traveling 

it is difficult to get any reliable information as to what preparations 

378 



FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE ISLAND 379 

one needs to make before starting; unless, indeed, some of one's 
acquaintances have been there, and even then it is very limited. 

To him, therefore, who has any intention of making a visit to the 
Island of Cuba with the purpose of staying there some time, of travel- 
ing over the Island, and of really enjoying its beautiful scenery, its 
oddities of manners and customs, or even of trying its numerous 
medicinal waters, we recommend to pick up a little Spanish, even if 
it be only enough to ask for something to eat, to give directions 
about luggage and such other every-day necessities as occur to 
the traveler in any land. 

Not Great Travelers. 

The Cubans themselves are not a traveling people, and, to use the 
words of one of their own authors, " have little fancy for traveling, 
be it on account of the bad roads, that now are disappearing with the 
advent of steamboats and railroads, or be it from the love with which 
the localities where we are born and pass the first years of our 
infancy inspire us, — where exist our interests, and where gather 
round our sweetest memories. 

Few foreigners go much away from Havana or Matanzas, or per- 
haps Cardenas, and the people have not yet learned the necessities of 
those who travel for curiosity or health ; and therefore to us, accus- 
tomed as we are to have our traveling made easy, many things will 
seem hard, uncomfortable, and strange, unless one is able by a few 
words of Spanish to smooth away the rough peculiarities of places 
and people not accustomed to a traveling public. 

And yet, with all the inconveniences and peculiarities that the 
traveler experiences after leaving Havana, he is compensated for all 
of these by the perfect novelty of the sights and scenery he meets 
with, and by the extreme change in the manner of life, he is accus- 
tomed to, although he may leave behind him some greater con- 
veniences in quitting the prominent places like Havana and Matan- 
zas, where, after the novelty of the streets, the architecture of the 
houses, and the odd appearance of the stores, etc., are worn off, he is 
reminded of the city life of his own land constantly. The social life 



380 FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE ISLAND. 

of the better classes is much the same, the world over ; they eat, and 
drink, and visit pretty much as they do in all the great capitals of the 
world. 

But it is in such towns as Trinidad and Santiago de Cuba, and in 
such pretty villages as Guines, San Antonio, and Guanajay, or among 
the coffee-places of the Vuelta Abajo, and the sugar estates of the 
Vuelta Arriba, that the stranger sees the original habits aud customs 
of a people who are always loth to change ; and it has been truly 
said that Cuba is more Spanish than Spain ; for here it is out of the 
world, in some degree, while there effort is made to keep up witb 
the new ideas of the day. 

Cuban Hospitality. 

A more kind-hearted, hospitable people than the Cubans, partic- 
ularly to " Los Americanos," it would be difficult to find ; no trouble 
is too great for them if you can make them comprehend the purpose 
of what you desire ; and the " oiling of the palm " is just as effectual 
amongst these primitive peope of the interior as in more civilized 
lands. Many of the people speak English, a great many French, — 
which, in fact, is the household language in some parts of the Island, — 
and many of the young men one finds have been regularly educated 
in the United States. 

In arranging money matters, unless one is very extravagant indeed 
in his daily expenditures, five dollars gold per day is a very fair 
allowance for ordinary expenses while on the Island for simply living 
and traveling ; while, of course, if one desires to be extravagant or 
make purchases, there are just as many ways of getting rid of 
money as in other places. 

The provision for these expenses can best be made by a letter of 
credit. As exchange on London is generally at a premium in 
Havana, a bill of exchange even up to ninety days on some well- 
known house can be disposed of to advantage; as, however, there is 
not the same system of banking in Havana as there is with us, the 
best arrangement for the general traveler is to take a letter of credit 
on some well-known house in Havana. He will then only have to 



FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE ISLAND. 381 

pay for money as he uses it, he has no trouble in carrying money 
with him, and such houses will furnish letters of credit to other parts 
of the Island, which is a great convenience. 

An amount of silver in ten-cent pieces, which pass readily as the 
" real sencilla," — say from twenty to fifty dollars' worth, will be 
found very convenient for the thousand and one daily expenses of 
the traveler, small change being scarce. Other silver coin it is not 
advisable to take, since our twenty-five cent pieces pass for only 
twenty cents {peseta), and the half dollars {medio peso) for only forty 
cents. American gold passes readily, being generally at a premium 
of seven or eight per cent. ; and if you can supply yourself with the 
Spanish doubloons at their intrinsic value of sixteen dollars, they 
will pass for seventeen dollars in Cuba, as that is their value fixed by 
the government to keep the coin in the country. 

Letters of Introduction. 

Letters of introduction to business men in Havana are really not 
worth the paper they are written on, no matter by whom written, or 
in whose favor given ; for the merchants receive such hosts of them 
that it would be impossible, even had they the inclination, to show 
attentions to the bearers. Many amusing incidents we could give of 
persons with really strong letters, presenting the same under the 
impression that at least some ordinary civility would be shown them, 
when on the contrary they were astonished by the very blunt ques- 
tion addressed to them, without preface, of — " Well, what do you 
want? " 

Letters to planters or citizens will be found very useful and are 
generally well and politely received, particularly those to the owners 
of sugar and coffee estates, than whom a more hospitable, kindly 
people it is hard to find. They are generally very glad indeed to 
entertain you at their places, if they themselves are living there ; or 
if not, and you desire to visit a sugar estate, are kind enough to for- 
ward you, with a letter, to the administrator of the estate, who con- 
stantly lives upon it, and will take good care of you. 

Clothing for a stay on the Island needs to be of the very lightest 



382 FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE ISLAND. 

summer kind ; and one can wear, almost without intermission, linen 
clothes, or a light suit of summer woolens. The nights during the 
winter months are quite cool and agreeable for sleep, but the middle 
of the day is always warm, the average temperature in Havana being 
about eighty degrees. Clothing, particularly linens, of all kinds can 
be purchased, of the best kinds and makes, in Havana, and at very 
reasonable prices ; and there are certain styles of dresses that can be 
much better purchased there than at home, some of them being made 
specially for the Cuban market. 

A suggestion, prompted by experience, we would here make to 
any one intending to leave the traveled routes (as in fact it applies as 
well to the towns, where they have no baggage carts), and that is to 
have one's baggage in the shape of good-sized valises (inalctas), for 
these can be easily handled, can even be put in the car with the 
owner, and, in the country, strapped on the back of mules or horser, 
which is the common mode of transportation the people are familial 
with. 

Singular Beds and Mattresses. 

If the traveler is an invalid, and proposes to go to other places 
than Havana and Matanzas, it will be well to provide himself with 
an air-pillow, and, if he cannot sleep on a somewhat hard bed, an air- 
mattress also. Few of the hotels even in Havana are provided with 
mattresses to the beds, and the pillows are generally stuffed with hard 
cotton or hair, the beds being a simple sacking bottom, covered with 
a linen sheet. This may seem, at first, a great hardship, accustomed 
as we are to our patent spring-mattresses ; but they are much cooler 
and, after a little experience, as comfortable for that climate as are 
mattresses. 

Half a dozen towels will not be found amiss, as at some of the 
smaller places the supply is somewhat short. And in speaking of 
invalids who are very far gone with any organic disease, very few 
'udeed are ever very much benefited by a stay on the Island, any more 
than that they avoid the inclemencies and changes of a northern 
winter; though there are cases in which some wonderful cures have 
been effected, particularly in the Island of Pines. 



FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE ISLAND. 383 

For the overworked man of business, however, the debilitated or 
weakly person, or one whose system has from some cause or other 
become reduced, the climate and scenes of Cuba will work wonders : 
and all such cases generally go back at the end of the winter com- 
pletely restored. But the poor consumptive, who has left it till it is 
too late for anything in this world to do him good, only comes out 
here to have his high hopes entirely dispelled, particularly when he 
finds so many of the ordinary comforts to which he is accustomed, 
and which are so necessary to the invalid, entirely unheard of. 

It is safe for the stranger to visit the Island any time after Decem- 
ber, though January and February are the gay months, and he can 
remain until even the first of June, though in May they have it very 
hot indeed, and also some little fever amongst the shipping. If it is 
necessary for the invalid to leave home in October, before the winter 
of the north sets in, he can visit the Island with safety, but will find 
it pleasanter to go directly to some of the " places of recreo" as they 
are called, near the city, — which are simply pretty villages, such as 
Guines, Marianao, and Puentes Grandes, where good accommodations 
can always be had= 

Merry Christmas. 

There is, however, not much to be done or seen before January, if 
one wants to make simply a pleasure trip of it ; for at Christmas 
almost all the families visit their estates and distribute presents to the 
hands, making a week's regular holiday of it ; after which the grind- 
ing season begins on the sugar plantations, and the business of the 
town becomes quick and active. Carnival season, the week before 
Lent, is the jolly season of the year, when everybody gives up to 
the spirit of pure enjoyment and mischief: and it is then the 
Habaneros are seen unbending from their usually dignified manner, 
and giving loose rein to their tastes for balls, masks and spectacles. 

Holy Week, the closing of the Lenten season, has also its attrac- 
tions in a country so thoroughly Romanistic as Cuba; and the pro- 
cessions and ceremonies of the church, some of which are carried on 
with great solemnity and splendor, will interest the Protestant 
traveler. 



384 FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE ISLAND. 

Many persons make the trip to Havana and back solely for the sea 
voyage, from which they derive great benefit, simply staying over one 
steamer. We have known business men in New York, who would 
not tear themselves away until actually sent away by their doctors, 
take the voyage out, remain ten days in Havana, and return 
thoroughly recuperated men — so wonderful is the effect of the sea air 
in the Gulf Stream, and the immense let-up afforded by the entire 
change of customs, scenes and language at Havana. 

As the steamers are large and well patronized, their accommoda- 
tions are of the very best class, and one is always sure to find plea- 
sant company on board with whom to while away agreeably the short 
passage of even four days. 

" We left behind the painted buoy 

That tossed at the harbor-mouth : 
And madly danced our hearts with joy, 

As fast we fleeted to the South. 
How fresh was every sight and sound 

On open main or winding shore ! 
We knew the merry world was round, 

And we might sail forever more. 

Warm broke the breeze against the brow. 

Dry sang the tackle, sang the sail ; 
The lady's head upon the prow 

Caught the shrill salt, and sheered the gale. 
The broad seas swelled to meet the keel, 

And swept behind ; so swift the run, 
We felt the good ship shake and reel, 

We seemed to sail into the sun." 

"Will make Cuba in the morning, sir," says the captain; and so 
we stroll forward to watch the porpoises as they race along with the 
steamer through the blue wat;r, or amuse ourselves watching the 
tiny mariner, the nautilus, as it floats lightly on the wave. With 
night comes the never-failing pleasure of leaning over the vessel's 
stern with some charming fair one, watching the ever-sparkling 
beauties of the phosphorescent light in the vessel's wake, and enjoy- 
ing that indescribable pleasure of a tropical night at sea. 



FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE ISLAND. 385 

" Cuba is in sight, sir; can see it through your window," says the 
steward, rousing you up on the morning of the fourth day out; and, 
turning over in your berth, there, sure enough, are seen the hills of 
Cuba, and the indistinct outlines of the Morro Castle— looking, as 
you see them through your window, like some beautiful painting to 
which the oval of the dead-eye forms a frame. 

We are fortunate in arriving so opportunely, for. had we arrived 
the previous evening after sundown, though it were still daylight, we 
would have been compelled to lie outside all night, as no vessels are 
allowed to enter after evening gun-fire, at sundown. There are the 
signals flying in the morning breeze from the watch-tower of the 
grim Morro Castle ; and as we approach more nearly, we distinguish 
our dear old bunting, rivaling with its stars and stripes even the 
or ; ght sky and sparkling waves. 

First View of Havana. 

And now we have before us a full view of Havana and its sur- 
roundings—the Morro Castle to the left; to the right, the city, with 
the fort of La Punta (historic, too) on its extreme point- -the white, 
blue, and yellow-colored houses, with their red-tiled roofs, looking 
fresh and bright in this breezy January morning. 

Still later, we are passing within easy stone-throw of the grim- 
looking Morro, from whose frowning battlements the sentry hails as 
we go swiftly by ; there, to the left, the white walls on the abrupt hills 
of the Cabanas fortifications ; to the right, again, the bay side-walls ot 
die city, with the roofs of houses and towers of churches pled up in 
close proximity; and there, fresh and green, like an oasis in the des- 
ert of stone houses, the small but pretty Cortina de Valdes lookino- 
so invitingly cool in the shade of its trees ; some of the other Paseos 
in the outer portion of the city being marked out by the long, regu- 
lar rows of green trees that stretch away until they are lost in the 
distant buildings. 

How one's heart leaps at such a quaint, novel scene as this ! 
Havana, around whose walls cluster so many memories of the once 
haughty Spanish Dons, whose foundation dates back nearly two cen- 
?6 



386 FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE ISLAND. 

turies before our own noble country was settled ; what visions of 
gold-laden ships, of wild, reckless, murderoi^s freebooters, expedition^ 
of gallant early adventurers and discoverers, and more lately the 
realization of numerous passages of Irving's and Prescott's glowing 
descriptions, come flooding upon one as he sees for the first time this 
apparently beautiful city ! 

Still swiftly gliding on up the bay, passing as we go the Spanish 
men-of-war and vessels of all nations sailing in and out, we see to 
great advantage this far-famed beautiful bay ; a turn to the right, and 
we see the long line of covered wharves, with the shipping of the 
world lying side by side, waiting the completion of their cargoes ; to 
the left, the white walls of still another fort — the Casa Blanca — that 
commands the city, and farther on in front of us we see the little 
town of Regla, with its immense warehouses of solid stone and cor- 
rugated iron for storing the sugar of the Island, as substantial and 
handsome in their structure as any the world can show. And now 
we are at anchor. 

The custom-house officers come on board, and the steamer is sur- 
rounded by a perfect fleet of small boats, that are a cross between a 
market-wagon and a scow, from which rush a horde of hotel-run- 
ners, all expatiating upon the merits of their particular hotels, some 
of them in the most amusing broken English. 

These boats, by-the-by, are afloat what the " volante " is ashore ; 
and the traveler must needs use many of them if he wishes to see 
anything of the bay and surroundings of Havana. Small boats are 
not allowed to carry more than five passengers, or the large ones ten ! 
" From ten and a half o'clock at night until the firing of the signal 
gun at daybreak in the morning, no boats will be allowed to pass in 
the bay." The traveler is, however, on all long trips, advised to 
make a bargain with the boatman, using care that he is not over- 
charged. 

Having made up our mind before leaving the steamer as to which 
hotel we propose to patronize, we point out our baggage to the 
runner of that hotel, who will take charge of it, and we shall have no 
further trouble about it, except to pass it at the custom-house on 



FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE ISLAND. 387 

landing. The runner has also a boat, into which we go, and have no 
trouble about fares, the which are settled for, and with the baggage 
charges will be found in his hotel bill " all n'ght." 

Now comes the fun. The passengers crowd into the little boats, 
a pile of baggage is stowed forward, the sail is set and away skims 
the little tub to the custom-house, each one trying to get there first. 
Arrived there, the voyager has his first experience of a Cosas de Cuba 
in the shape of a stalwart negro who takes a trunk, no matter how 
large, from the boat, places it on his head, and in the most nonchalant 
manner walks off with it to the examining office as though it were a 
trifle instead of a trunk on his brain, if he has any at all of that 
organ. The officers are very easy and polite ; n their examination of 
baggage, passing everything almost with a mefely nominal examina' 
tion, particularly if the keys are politely and readily produced. 

Hacks and Hotels. 

And now we are in Havana, and free to go wh*-re we like, notwith- 
standing those two military statues at the door, who look at us so 
fiercely as we go by. Outside the custom-house will be found hacks, 
which for twenty cents will carry the traveler where he wants to go. 

But here we are at our hotel, and plenty of hotels there are to 
satisfy every taste and purse, though somewhat different from our 
great caravansaries. The ease and comforts (or lack of such, as we 
know them) of one of the hotels are most acceptable with their cafe 
con leche or chocolate at early morning, their eleven o'clock breakfast 
of luscious fruits and cool salads, and their abundant and pleasant 
dinners at five or six o'clock. 

After dinner comes the delicious drive on the " Paseo," where 
magnificent equipages, lovely women, and well-dressed men, added 
to the beautiful surroundings of stately, graceful palms, and avenues 
of tropical trees, make up a scene that will vie with anything the 
world can show, the day ending, maybe, by a charming stroll in the 
magnificent grounds of " El Jardin Botanico," at the Governor- 
General's, where, at no expense, and without let or hindrance, one 
can wander for hours at a time through a garden that in its luxuriant 



388 FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF THE ISLAND. 

magnificence of trees, fruits and flowers rivals anything the eye has 
ever seen in America. 

" Cafe solo o con leche ? " (coffee with or without milk) is about tin. 
first thing one hears of a morning in a Spanish hotel, as " Boots " puts 
his head in at the door to make the inquiry ; and as, to make use of a 
common expression, "you pay your money and you have your 
choice," you will very quickly decide, if you want to get into Cuban 
ways, to have it thus early in the morning con leche. Our reasons for 
thb are that in Cuba the custom is, on first rising, to take only a cup 
of coffee or chocolate, with a bit of dry toast or roll, which satisfies 
the appetite until the regular breakfast-hour of nine, ten, or eleven 
o'clock ; and experience has taught that coffee with milk on an empty 
stomach is better than the coffee without (or cafe noir), which is best 
as a digestor after meals. Fruit, also, in the morning on rising is 
used, and is very palatable ; but a little experience will show that 
the Cuban fashion of beginning the breakfast with fruit is best. 

Excellent Restaurants. 

Havana, city as it is of quite two hundred and fifty thousand inhab- 
itants, with abundance of travel at certain seasons of the year, doe? 
not boast of one first-class hotel, as we understand the word, thougxi 
there are several where the traveler, if he is not too particular, can be 
tolerably con: r ortable. There is no giving the reason for this — the 
fact is so, and though there are numbers of excellent restaurants kept 
by Spaniards and French, yet there are but few hotels kept by those 
people that are more than passable. 

The city is large, there are constant arrivals of people from other 
portions of the Island, and in the winter season there are crowds of 
travelers from abroad; and yet, if you discuss the matter with a 
Cuban, he will only shrug his shoulders, and remark, " It won't pay." 

But what more can be expected from a city that does not 
possess a chimney in its whole vast extent of private dwellings? 
Who ever heard even of a house without a chimney? They don't 
need them here, you say? Well, how do you account, then, for the 
absence of the other things ? — you can't say they don't need them. 



CHAPTER XXX. 
Curious Sights in Havana. 

rO see the curiosities of Havana and its neighborhood proper!}' 
there is necessarily involved, in addition to a large expendi- 
ture of shoe-leather, much expenditure of reales and pesetas, 
in cab hire. Although there are few passenger railways in Havana, 
yet from the abundance of all kinds of public vehicles it can not be 
said that they are missed much, since, if it is desired to go to any 
particular spot, all that is necessary is to wait in front of your hotel 
or at the corner of the street, and inside of three minutes you will 
have your choice of perhaps a dozen vehicles, that are constantly 
passing in every direction, and which, for twenty cents, will carry 
you to any part of the city. 

These comprise various kinds and styles ; but the one most in use 
to-day, and the latest novelty, is the " Victoria," a very comfortable 
four-wheeled affair, with seats for two, and in front a seat upon the 
box for the driver of the one horse required to draw it All of these 
vehicles are the property of a few owners. 

Such is the constant busy travel, that there is always a great 
demand for them, even at what would seem a high price, in com- 
parison with what the caleseros (drivers) are allowed to charge the 
passengers ; and yet the owners could rent out a greater number 
still, each driver, at that rate, making from two to four dollars per day. 

Wherever you go in the city, you see a constant stream of these 
carriages going in every direction, without and with occupants ; those 
that are not occupied have a little tin sign hanging over the box, 
" Se alquila" (to hire). One of the owners of a line of these car- 
riages had made over $100,000, and was desirous of selling out and 
going back to his belle France, whence he originally came. 

Although the popular name of the " volante " has made it familial 

389 



390 



CURIOUS SIGHTS IN HAVANA. 




OLD VOLANTE. 



even to the foreign mind, there is in fact a great mistake about that 
conveyance — since the volante proper was a different affair in times 
gone by, and is to-day, from what is now called volante, which in 
truth is really the " quitrin." The old volante is now almost extinct, 
or used simply by some business man to drive to and from his place 

of business, or is found in a very 
dilapidated state in some of the 
interior towns of the Island. 

It, like the volante vulgar, is a 
two-wheeled affair, with long shafts, 
which rest upon the horse or mule, 
upon whose back sits the driver in 
a clumsily-made big saddle. The 
shafts have one end resting upon the axle, the other upon the horse, 
on the same principle as the poles of the old-fashioned litter ; and the 
volante body is also on the same 
principle, being with its huge leather 
Springs, constantly in motion from 
side to side. The main difference 
between the two vehicles is, that the 
old volante does not lower its top, 
which is permanent, while the vo- 
lante or quitrin of to-day permits of 
the top being lowered or raised at 
pleasure — a very great improvement and convenience. 

As public vehicles in Havana, these are fast giving entire place to 
the carriage and the Victoria ; but the private quitrin is, and always 
will be, one of the cosas de Cuba, for it is the only vehicle used on the 
bad roads by the families in going to and from their places, while in 
the city it is splendidly adorned and decorated with silver-platings 
and rich stuffs — the most elegant and handsome affair in which the 
Senoritas can take their airings, and show off their handsome persons. 
It is amusing sometimes to see these long-poled conveyances 
attempt to turn one of the corners in the usually narrow streets of the 
old town. It is a matter of considerable difficulty, the horse and 




VOLANTE AS IT IS. 



CURIOUS SIGHTS IN HAVANA. 391 

rider appearing as though they would have to enter some store- door 
to get out of the way of the volante behind it, and is the occasion of 
much hard swearing. A few years ago the volante was the only con- 
veyance seen ; and now, on the contrary, one sees carriages of all 
kinds and styles, of as fine and striking appearance as anything in 
Central Park. 

But the volante or quitrin of the livery-stable is, par excellence, 
another affair, as any one will find out to his cost who orders one 
innocently from the stable without inquiring its expense. When 
however, he sees it drive up with two fine horses, the calesero in a 
stunning red livery, covered with gold lace, high boots coming almost 
up to his waist, and the horses decked out in harness that reflects the 
sun from a hundred silver-plated buckles, rings, and knobs, he begins 
to have a glimmering that this is going to cost something, and must 
" be settled " for. 

Different Kinds of Vehicles. 

On the public stands can also be had two-horse carriages, usually 
very comfortable barouches, and used generally for a party of four or 
five for a drive on the Paseo. The livery-stables, also, furnish very 
handsome carriages of the same kind, which, with the two- horse 
volantes, can be had at all times by applying at the hotels, as they 
generally have some particular stable at which the> get carriages. 
The prices are in all cases quite high enough. 

An American traveler in Cuba relates the following incident : 
" Cabmen appear to be the same the world over ; and I shall not soon 
forget an amusing episode that took place on our first departure from 
Havana. One of these fellows, of an early morning, had carried us 
to the depot, and upon settling with him I gave him double fare in 
consideration of his putting our trunks in his wagon. This was a 
proceeding so unusual, that he immediately thought I must be a 
novice indeed, and demanded double the fare already paid him. I 
politely declined to comply with his request, on the ground that I 
had already paid him double ; whereupon he stormed and swore that 
he was being robbed, very much to our amusement and that of the 



892 CURIOUS SIGHTS IN HAVANA. 

bystanders. I could not resist laughing in the fellow's face at his cool 
impudence, which aggravated him so much that he thrust the fare 
back into my hand, vowing he would take nothing. 

" I thanked him very kindly, and, with the utmost gravity, told 
him I would drink his health, and raising my hat to him, politely 
bade him good-by ; and, showing my ticket, was about entering the 
cars, when the fellow was so taken aback at this peculiar way of 
meeting him, that he rushed at me, holding out his hand, and 
remarked, ' Ah, you are an American ; give me what you please ! ' 
upon which I returned him his gift, and left him with a smile upon 
his countenance, and the remark, ' A pleasant journey to you, sir ; ' 
when, had you seen him five minutes previously, raving and lament- 
ing, you would have truly thought he really meant what he said." 

In the Public Markets. 

It is always a matter of interest to the traveler in any land to know 
how and from where the supplies of food for the people generally 
come ; and this is best seen by a visit to the public market-place, 
where not only the material with which they are fed can be seen, but 
a great deal may be learned of the manners and habits of a certain 
class of the people themselves. Therefore, as fruit is said to be best 
in these warm climates before breakfast, we will stroll down to the 
markets, and while doing a little inspection duty, make an investment 
in some of the fruits of the country. 

The most convenient one inside the city is that of the " Mercado 
de Cristina," in the Plaza Vicja, situated at the corner of Teniente 
Rey street and San Ygnacio. Here, in the centre of a hollow square, 
the sides of which are formed of ranges of stores of all classes, faced 
by an arcade, is one of the great marts for the sale of vegetables, 
fruits and meats for the supply of the city. It is a large stone build- 
ing apparently, though really a simple quadrangle, open to the sky, 
occupying the whole of a square, and was erected in 1836, during 
Tacon's administration. 

The arcade of stores is filled with shops of all kinds, but princi- 
pally occupied in the sale of such " notions " as will please the country 



CURIOUS SIGHTS IN HAVANA. 393 

people or the negroes, while the Plaza is filled with immense piles of 
onions, and cabbages, and sweet potatoes, which are the principal 
productions of the Island in the vegetable way; and there are smaller 
piles of oranges, green mangos, pine-apples, and other tropic fruits, 
new in name and appearance; clusters of the plantain, or banana, as 
we call it, of various colors, and pyramids of the green cocoa fruit 
meet the eye at every turn, all presided over by dusky negroes in al! 
varieties of costume, or swarthy Cubans, the native country people. 
These come in from the surrounding country with their products, 
raised upon the small estancia in the neighborhood of the city. Here 
and there, too, may be seen the patient donkey, with his load of greei 
fodder, giving comic life to the scene. 

Wholesome Vegetables. 

The plantain, of which we see such large quantities exposed, is the 
vegetable upon which the lower classes depend for food, and which 
is cooked in various ways; and with the " tasajo" (jerked beef, or 
fish), constitutes the diet of the poor. Of the many delightful vege- 
tables that grow in such abundance in our summer season, there is 
not a single one to be seen. Of berries of any kind there is not one 
raised upon the Island, owing to the great heat, which burns them up, 
it is said. The market presents a very different appearance from one 
of ours, with its profusion of everything arranged in the tidy-looking 
stalls, and presided over by clean-looking vendors. 

Here it is very different ; a great proportion of the market people 
are negroes, most of whom are free, and such a chattering as they 
keep up, particularly the women, who are scolding, laughing, or rail- 
ing at each other in the most deafening way. It is very amusing to 
walk along in front of the little tables, or more usually the piles of 
fruit on the ground, and buy some of the queer-looking fruits you 
see, and which are totally unheard of by the names which the negroes 
give them, many of them, nevertheless, being quite palatable. 

The little banana and the orange are, however, the most agreeable 
of all, tasting very pleasant and cool in the early morning before 
one's breakfast ; but there are others that are very luscious when 



394 CURIOUS SIGHTS IN HAVANA. 

eaten perfectly ripe and in season, and which the market people will 
gladly tell you all about, as soon as they find you are a stranger, — 
particularly an " Americano." 

The choicest of these, after the luscious pine-apple, orange, and 
banana, are the delicious " anon," the " zapote" and the " mamcy 
Colorado" the latter sometimes called " angels' sweetmeats ;" any of 
which, if they happen to be in season, will please the palate of the 
stranger, if he is fond of rich, luscious fruits ; many persons find them 
too rich and sweet. 

Having heard so much of the milk of the cocoanut when drank 
fresh from the green fruit, you seize this opportunity to get a new 
experience of a cosas de Cuba ; and, negotiating for a good large one, 
for which you pay un medio (five cents), the negro takes a huge sharp 
knife, and slices off the top of the fruit, in which he punches a hole 
from which you are to drink. Seizing it with both hands, you raise 
it to your mouth like a water-jar, and empty the contents, as you 
think, down your throat ; and sweet, cool, and pleasant it certainly is to 
the palate, only this is rather an awkward and inconvenient way ot 
drinking it, as you find on examining your shirt front, which has 
received a good share of the contents. 

A much more convenient way is to carry the green cocoanut to 
one's hotel, and there, pouring out the milk into a big glass / add 
plenty of ice and a little brandy, and it makes a delicious drink — 
sweet and wholesome — pronounced capital as a diuretic. 

Strolling through the market, one sees every variety of Cuban 
peasant and negro — many of the latter coming into town only to 
bring a small quantity of the sugar-cane, which is bought and eaten 
by the people with great zest. Then, in going through the stores 
surrounding the market, one sees innumerable strange sights and 
articles, a busy throng of buyers and sellers of all kinds of merchan- 
dise, of oddities and antiquities of architecture ; and, perhaps, heard 
above all the din and bustle, are the loud nasal tones of the lottery- 
ticket vender, calling out in his protracted high key the number of 
the tickets he has for sale. 

From here we will stroll over to the fish market, or " Pescaderia," 



CURIOUS SIGHTS IN HAVANA. 39* 

as it is called, and see another cosas de Cuba. This is situated over 
on the other side of the town, on the bay side, and we reach it by 
going directly along the street Mercaderes, on the lower side of this 
market, which conies out directly opposite the fish-market, in Empe- 
drado street. 

It is a well-built stone building, with the lower portion open 
on the side facing the street, and supported by pillared arches, 
which give the place somewhat the appearance of an arcade. 
In the interior, as permanent structures, in lieu of tables, are square 
stone forms with tiled tops, upon which the fish, fresh from the sea, 
are exposed for sale, and which are of great variety, many of them 
resembling ours — such as the flounder, and bass, and one something 
like the blue-fish. All the fish on the coast are very fine, with 
some few exceptions, — as the pes espada, gato, piaia, and some 
others that have the peculiarity of making persons sick, or poisoning 
those that eat of them. 

The Lively Shark. 

Of all the many species (and there are said to be one hundred 
species and more), the pargo and the rabi-rubia are the best, being 
somewhat scarce, except during the prevalence of north winds in 
the winter season, when they sell as low as twelve cents per pound. 
The shark, small and large, in pieces or whole, may also be seen 
here for sale, under its name of " tiburon? the which abounds in 
these waters, and from it is extracted the oil. It is very fierce, and 
many accidents happen each year from persons recklessly going in 
to bathe in some of the bays frequented by these creatures, who 
attack the swimmers without hesitation, and gobble a leg or arm, or 
maybe the whole person ; the little ones, that are called " cazones, 1 ' 
are eaten. 

Their fish are not all brought from along the coast, but many of 
the larger fishermen have properties on the coast of Yucatan, and 
bring the fish from there, as also from Florida and the Tortugas. 
Generally, however, the first come from the coast in the neighbor- 
hood, many being caught just off the bay. 



396 CURIOUS SIGHTS IN HAVANA. 

At tiie little village of Chorrera, directly on the coast and about 
two miles from Havana, is, however, the great fishing place for this 
district, and one can go out any time, taking the passenger (horse) 
cars at the station opposite the Tacon theatre, and going out there. 
The cars leave every hour, take about half an hour to go, and return 
the following hour ; fare twenty cents. On the way out, the traveler 
passes through a portion of the city he is not otherwise likely to see. 
that is parallel with the coast, passing by, also, the large charitable 
institution, the Real Casa de Beneficencia, at the corner of the street 
Belascoin. 

A Large Donation. 

This is a flourishing institution, being an asylum for destitute 
orphans and the prevention of vagrancy, by putting all vagrants 
therein. It was established during the time of Las Casas, in 1790-96, 
:md in 1802 enjoyed the protection of the Marquis-Governor 
Someruelos, who at one donation nestowed twenty-five thousand 
dollars. It is a fine, large building, and has beautiful grounds. 

TLe village of Chorrera itself is a small place, celebrated as being 
the first site of Havana, and as being the place where the English 
attacked and landed, the commanding officer of the fort or castle 
blowing it up and retiring. There is now a queer-looking tower, 
with portcullis, still there for protection, though the Fort Principe 
commands the place. 

It is rare indeed that a meal in Cuba is served without fish, for even 
in the interior some of the streams are abundantly supplied. It is 
stated by one of the old authors that that was the reason all the set- 
tlements were located on the coast ot Cuba by the early inhabitants, 
in order to be convenient to the supplies of fish. 

In connection with the inhabitants of the deep, there is one that 
they have in Cuba, known as the manati, a species of sea-hog, some- 
what resembling those met with in Florida — different from the sea- 
calf or cow — that frequents the mouth of the rivers, and even mounts 
up on the earth. From its flesh they make tasajo, its oil is useful and 
medicinal, and from its skin canes are made that are very beautiful, 
but very expensive, 



CURIOUS SIGHTS IN HAVANA. 397 

Of the shell-fish there is a great variety, — amongst them the 
lobster, the craw-fish, and (best of all) the shrimp, both salt and fresh 
water, which is par excellence the most delicious thing they have on 
the Island, being as tender and resembling the white meat of the 
crab. They are eaten simply boiled, and served cold with a little 
salt, or made into a delicious salad. Some of them are quite large, 
and resemble a lobster-claw, are considered very wholesome, and used 
in great profusion all over the Island. Camarones, bear in mind, is 
the name for them in Cuba, and they are identically the same as those 
we have south. 

The Cuban oysters are quite small, and it would take a dozen of 
them to make one of our noble York river oysters or chincoteagues ; 
but they are nevertheless very good, being very appetizing, eaten at 
breakfast, as they have the briny and somewhat coppery taste of the 
French oyster. 

Fish and Fishermen. 

To finish up the morning's walk before breakfast, let us take a 
Victoria out to the other market of Tacon — unless, indeed, you want 
to turn the corner here, go up those old stone steps, and take a stroll 
along the Paseo de Valdes, which is cool and shady at this hour in 
the morning. Then, too, perhaps, at this end near the steps, we may 
see some odd kind of fish we have not seen in the markets, for this 
is also frequented at times by fishermen, who do a small trade with 
the negroes, cutting up the small fish, even into quarters and halves, 
to sell to those villainous, filthy-looking negroes, who are probably 
too lazy to work to buy themselves better food. 

On our way out, since it is a fine, breezy morning, and the sea is 
coming in heavily, we will pass by the Puerta de la Punta, and see 
the surf beating on the rocks in a most beautiful, violent way, dash- 
ing the spray high in air. This is always the case after a norther; 
and it is a most attractive sight, either after or during one of these 
blows, to come out here on the point and see the ocean worked up 
into a state of fury, entirely different from its usually calm, placid 
appearance ; and here, just outside the gate, is always to be seen a 
lively party in that cove-like place with the gravelly shore— for here 



398 CURIOUS SIGHTS IN HAVANA. 

gather, of a morning, sometimes as many as a dozen or more negro 
drivers, with their two and three horses each, and entirely naked, 
except a short pair of pants. 

They swim the animals into the salt water, which is most ex- 
cellent for them. It is a jolly sight, when the sea is rough, to see 
these fellows, laughing, shouting and singing, enjoying their bath on 
horseback, the sea breaking clean over them at times, and the horses 
bracing themselves against the shock with their hind quarters to the 
waves. 

The odd-looking building you see in the background is the old 
Bateria de la Punta, and the end of the new building is part of the 
government ordnance shed; the circular-looking iron affairs scattered 
along the shore being the old-fashioned sugar-pans. 

Special Types of Cubans. 

And now for the Plaza de Vapor, which is a market very similar 
to that of Cristina, known more generally as " Mercado de Tacon." 
It is situated at the corner of Galiano and Reina streets, or calzadas, 
the name generally given to fine, wide streets like avenues. This 
market is rather better in appearance than the others, being elevated 
some distance above the ground, and is two stories in height, with 
very good-sized stores around, its four sides, with the portico facing 
on the street, the market itself being inside the square. 

Here we have the opportunity of seeing to advantage special types 
of the lower class of Cubans, — countrymen as well as citizens. Here, 
for example, is the malofero, who comes from some distance in the 
country simply to bring that load of maloja that he has on the back 
of his horse, and which is the product of an inferior kind of corn that 
does not run to seed, and is raised with so little trouble that these 
lazy fellows prefer to let it grow on their places rather than trouble 
themselves to plant crops that require cultivation and attention. 

The guajiro, or small property-owner from the country, is also 
seen here in his glory, with his varied stock of produce seeking a 
market. There is rather greater profusion of fruit here, but the meat 
carts with their uninviting loads are in appearance bad enough to 



CURIOUS SIGHTS IN HAVANA. 399 

take one's appetite away, as he sees these sides and quarters swinging 
to and fro, or piled up one upon the other in these small carts which 
bring the beef from the mataderos on the outskirts of town, no 
butchering being allowed within the city limits. 

The shops, and in fact the whole market, present the same general 
appearance as the others ; if you see one you see them all, with, per- 
haps, this difference — that there is always a great variety in the 
colored human nature, which at times presents itself very grotesquely 
to one's notice. 



CHAPTEk XXXI. 
Famous Localities and Buildings. 

NE of the best and pleasantest ways of getting an idea o 

Havana within the walls, and particularly that portion of it 

lying on the water side, is to hire a carriage by the hour, 

and start early in the morning, or, if more convenient, after an early 

dinner in the afternoon, when the sun is sufficiently down to make 

it cool. 

There is always this advantage in going anywhere within the old 
city in the afternoon — that almost the entire general buisness of the 
city is confined to this portion of it ; and as most of the mercantile 
houses do no business after four or five o'clock, that portion of .ne 
city at the water side does not present as lively an appearance as in 
the early hours of the morning, when the business community, taking 
advantage of the freshness and coolness, attend to most of their busi- 
ness out doors and upon the quays, which thereby present a much 
more stirring and active picture to the stranger. On the cont.ary, 
outside the walls in the afternoon all is life, fashion, and pleasure. 

We direct the driver to enter the city by the extreme north gate, 
known as La Puerta de la Punta, which is the entrance at the extreme 
end of the city on the bay, and where commenced the walls of the 
old city, which are here entered by an ordinary stone arch, some 
.wenty-four feet long, the sides of which were casemates for storing 
artillery implements, etc., while the top of it formed a battery en bar- 
bette, with terreplain, stone rampart, and a slope leading up from th( 
ground; while mounted for defence were some half-dozen rusty, old- 
fashioned carronades that would be no earthly use in case of need;, 
across from it can be seen the Morro. 

Inside the gate and extending along the street, parallel with the 
water, quite up to the Maestran^a. >s a stone covered way, with a 
400 



FAMOUS LOCALITIES AND BUILDINGS. 401 

stone parapet to serve as breastworks in case of need. Outside the 
gate and to the left is the landing quay, or the point used for landing 
and embarking timber, horses, etc., and a good place whence to start 
for the Morro Castle, there always being a boat or two theie. Con- 
tinuing down Cuba street, we come to a fine, large building on the 
left hand, evidently a modern affair, built of brown stone, and several 
stories in height. 

Here are the offices and officers' quarters, and in fact the head- 
quarters of the artillery, known as the " Maestranza," or Parque de 
Artilleria. Keeping on down past the building, we come to the street 
Chacon, turning into which to the left we can go inside the arsenal 
belonging to the Maestranza, where is a large supply of ordnance of 
various kinds, and a number of old bronze cannon, bearing some very- 
antique inscriptions and strange names, such as the " Peacemaker," 
the " Thunderer," etc. 

Stone Seats and Delightful Breezes. 

Immediately opposite to this is the entrance to the Paseo de Valdez, 
which extends along the bay side to Empedrado street. We direct 
l"he carriage to meet us at the other end, and then find it pleasant to 
stroll down the walk. Though the Paseo is not now in the best 
order, it has still a pretty row of trees, stone seats, and always a 
delightful bree;;e, and commands a fine view of the fortifications across 
the bay. 

At the entrance there is a sort of an arch and fountain erected, 
which, though now in sad repair, has been in its day quite handsome, 
and, as its tablet informs us, was erected by the corps of Royal Engi- 
neers, in 1843, the slab upon which is the inscription being marble 
from the Isle of Pines, and on the top of which are grouped different 
symbols of the military and particularly the engineer profession. 
Here, of an early morning, it is pleasant to stroll, if you have nothing 
better to do, and hear the music of the military bands performing 
inside the walls of the Cabanas opposite, and which comes softly and 
pleasantly mingling with the breeze of the ocean, which is onlv a short 

distance off. 
26 



402 FAMOUS LOCALITIES AND BUILDINGS. 

Entering the carriage, we drive through the street Tacon, passing 
the Pescaderia and the Intendencia, which is directly in front of La 
Fuerza, the oldest fort in the city, and around which cluster many 
traditions of antiquity, of assaults and defences, and attacks of pirates 
and enemies. Desiring to enter and see it, we pass around into 
the barrack yard on O'Reilly street, and are permitted to go 
through it. It is still a star-shaped bastioned fort, having a good 
line of fire upon the entrance and the bay, and having fine, large 
quarters near it for the troops. 

An Ancient Fort. 

This old fort dates back as far as the time of Fernando de Soto, 
the conqueror of Florida and discoverer of the Mississippi, who, being 
governor of the Island, gave orders to the engineer, Captain Aceituno, 
to build, in 1538, this fort, allowing for the purpose the sum of $4,000, 
— the which was paid by the inhabitants of Havana and Santiago de 
Cuba, for the purpose of having a fortified place on this side the Island. 
It was completed six or seven years after it was commenced. At the 
beginning, it was simply a quadrilateral of walls of double thickness, 
twenty-five yards high, with arched or casemated terreplains, and a 
bastion in each angle, the whole encompassed by a foss. In subse- 
quent years, it has suffered various reforms, but still is of the general 
form as when first erected. 

The portcullis and the barracks of the troops were erected in 1718 
by Don Guazo, the then Governor- General. De Soto's wife, it is said, 
died here, after waiting many years for news of her gallant husband. 
The statue on the top of the castle is that of an Indian, who (so runs 
the legend) was the first to receive Columbus on landing. Opposite 
is the public square, known as the Plaza de Armas, and on the west 
side of that is the residence of the Captain-General of the Island. 
The large building adjoining the squaie of La Fuerza is the head- 
quarters of the military governor of the city, the official who grants 
permission to visit the Morro Castle and Cabanas, at the written 
request of the consul. 

The sentries and guards on duty are worth*' of a little attention 



FAMOUS LOCALITIES AND BUILDINGS. 403 

from those fond of military matters. They are generally picked men, 
whose " get up " is quite unimpeachable when on duty during the 
day, being clad in a uniform of pure white, with trappings, " neat and 
gay " of red cloth, and who, in their comfortable linens, look " natty " 
and soldierly. 

Passing around the square to the lower or east side, we come to 
what is known as " El Templete " (little temple), at the corner of 
Ena Street. Tradition relates that in 15 19, on the removal of the 
city to its present site, there was celebrated under an old ceiba tree 
the first mass in commemoration of this event; and upon this same 
spot was erected, in 1828, the present temple to perpetuate it. It is 
a substantial stone building, not very large, erected in imitation of a 
Grecian temple, with a portico and pillars, standing some distance 
back from the street, from which it is protected by iron railings con- 
nected with heavy stone columns, the whole resting upon a solid 
base of stone. Within this railing stands the stone column that 
marks the spot where the old tree grew. 

A Celebrated Hostelry. 

As we enter the square of San Francisco, the old yellow building 
at the left-hand corner is the former " Hotel Almy," probably one of 
the most celebrated in its day of any in the city. It was there that 
Dr. Kane, the arctic explorer, died, the hotel occupying the second 
story over the warehouse. On the opposite side of the Plaza, the 
antique, worn-looking building is the old church of San Francisco, 
which has had its formerly sacred halls turned into a custom-house 
store-room. This old church, it is said, was in its day the best 
church in the city. It was consecrated in 1737, and shut in 1843. 
Its tower to-day is the most elevated one in the city, the immense 
weight of which is supported upon the arches of the principal door- 
way. 

It is a singular-looking old building, and has undergone some 
changes since its occupation for business purposes. The towers have 
been despoiled of their bells, and an additional door knocked in its 
side. The front of the church, in the narrow street Officios, cannot 



404 FAMOUS LOCALITIES AND BUILDINGS. 

be seen to advantage ; but in the niches, of which there are two, one 
on each side of the front, there are queer old statues, in stone, of 
monks, one of whom, from his peculiarity of attire, is readily per- 
ceived to be a Franciscan. 

As one looks at these hard old boys, that have stood here for so 
many ages, he is struck with the thought of what capital sentries they 
have made. Posted, each one of them in his niche, like a sentinel in 
his sentry-box, they have stood here, doing that which they were 
placed here to do, without any relief ever passing around in so many 
years to make a change for them. 

" These Stolid Old Fellows." 

There they have stood, year after year — aye, scores upon scores of 
years, too — and seen these portals, that once swung back only for the 
entrance of the devout and prayerful, open for the entrance of the 
worldly, with their bales of goods ; there, calm and immovable, they 
have seen the busy throngs of ages past go by, and yet still they 
stand impassive and inanimate as in days of yore, as the busy throng 
of to-day still goes by, many of whom, throwing but a casual glance 
at these stolid old fellows, perhaps know not, and care less, that this 
was the first place where their mothers' mothers knelt and prayed. 

Though the world has changed, though governor after governor 
has come and gone, though the small group of houses that once was 
the original town has grown into a vast assemblage of what is now a 
fine city, though other churches have been erected — aye, even amid 
the roar of the tempest and the lashing of the stormy waves which in 
the wild fury of a tropical storm have dashed almost to their very 
f ee t — there they stand still, not a muscle changed or a position 
altered since they were first posted in their stony guard-houses, on 
guard. 

Passing through the handsome iron gateway which separates the 
square from the quay, you enter upon the landing, known as the 
" Caballeria," being a portion of the continuous wharves that extend 
from the Castillo La Fuerza to the marine barracks and quarters, and 
the whole of which is devoted to shipping purposes. Here, any 



FAMOUS LOCALITIES AND BUILDINGS. 405 

morning, you will find a busy throng of merchants, clerks, etc., talk- 
ing, and smoking, and driving their bargains — for this is, in fact, the 
Exchange — while the active portion of the business is done by 
sturdy negroes and swarthy laborers of many climes. 

The whole series of quays is covered so completely with roofs that 
one may walk a considerable distance free from exposure to the sun, 
amusing oneself in examining the variety of vessels — of which there 
are crowds, side by side — from every nation in the world. 

In this ocean-loving city of Havana, boatmen take the place of the 
persistent cabmen who assail one the moment of coming from a 
depot Here, the moment you put your foot upon the quay, every 
boatman imagines you must want a boat, and a crowd gathers round 
you immediately, each vociferating the name of his boat, and you 
have considerable difficulty in getting away from the swarthy, pirati- 
cal-looking fellows who cease not to accost you with — " Quiere bote, 
Scnor?" all desirous of securing you for a pasco on the water. 

A Gorgeous Boat. 

And now we are catching the fresh breezes from the bay on the 
Quay de Machina, or machine wharf, which is the landing used for 
the men-of-war, and is, in fact, a naval storehouse on a small scale. 
The objects that will probably interest the stranger here are the state 
barge of the Captain-General, a very large and gorgeous affair of a 
boat, as also the very diminutive garden, about the dimensions of 3 
good-sized parlor, seeming to be made simply to see how small a 
garden can be. 

It is quite pretty, though, with miniature walks, shrubbery, and 
flowers, and also a fountain containing gold and silver fish, the whole 
affair being surrounded by an iron railing, ant. guarded by some 
nautical individual, who takes great delight in showing you through, 
particularly if one tips him a trifle. 

Just beyond the quay of the Machina are the ferries for crossing 
over the bay to the little village of Regla, where are the wonderfully 
large storehouses for storing the sugar; also, the depot of the 
railroad for Matanzas and for Guanabacoa. 



406 FAMOUS LOCALITIES AND BUILDINGS. 

The boats run every five minutes to the other side, the fare upon 
which is ten cents each way. They are exceedingly well-built boats, 
having all been made in the United States (as in fact are nearly all 
the steamboats in Cuban waters), and are kept in very good order, 
more so than most of our ferry lines. If one has nothing better to 
do of a morning, it is quite a refreshing trip to go and return on one 
of these boats, since there is a fine view of the different portions of 
the bay, the shipping and the city ; add to which there is always a 
fine breeze felt on them when in motion. 

Stretching from these ferries, almost continuously, are what are 
known as paseos, or promenades. They are a species of boulevard, in 
fact, running parallel with the bay, laid out in trees and a well-made 
walk, with solid stone wall, erected at the water side, and fountains 
and stone benches scattered at intervals throughout their length, some 
of the former being very pretty and tasteful in their designs. 

Stone Fountain with Military Trophies. 

The first and most imposing of these paseos is that of the "Alameda 
de Paula," erected, in 1802, by the Marquis-Governor Someruelos. 
It is also called Salon O'Donnell (after the marshal of that name, who 
was inspector of the Island), and is situated between the quay De Luz 
and the bastion of " Paula," overlooking the bay. It has seats of 
stone, trees on the land side, and a breastwork on the water side 
formed of a balustrade composed of plaster concrete, with ornaments 
of the same, alternated by iron railings. In the middle there is a 
semi-circular glorieta, or stone look-out, furnishec with seats, behind 
which is a handsome stone fountain, having in its centre \ marble 
column with military trophies and national symbols in very good 
taste. 

Next to this one is that of the " Paseo de Roncali," from which one 
has a fine view of the upper part of the bay, with the castle of Atare? 
in the background, and fine views of the surrounding country. This 
is a beautiful place of a moonlight night to get a view of the bay, but 
is not much frequented. This castle of Atares that you see in the 
centre of the bay is said to be the one where young Crittenden and 



FAMOUS LOCALITIES AND BUILDINGS. 407 

his fifty fellow-prisoners — all young men from the United States, who 
had come out in the Lopez expedition — had been captured, and were 
there shot, being brought out, twelve at a time, compelled to kneel 
down, six at a time, in front of the other six, and thus were all 
gradually murdered. 

Protest by the English Consul. 

A noble story is related of old Mr. Crawford, the then English 
consul, who, disgusted as every one else was by the inaction of our 
consul, Mr. Owens, when seeing these poor fellows shot down, went 
to the authorities, and told them that these massacres must cease ; 
that, though these men were Americans and filibusters, they were 
yet human beings, belonging to the Anglo-Saxon race; and that, if 
the shooting did not cease, he would throw the English flag over 
them on the score of humanity. All honor to such a noble, brave 
spirit ! And we are glad to say it was appreciated by the Americans 
living at the port at the time, for they presented him with a handsome 
set of silver. 

As a matter of curiosity, to see what is understood by a navy-yard 
in Cuba, it is well to pay the ''Arsenal " a visit, where is at once the 
naval dock, navy and store yard, situated at the extreme southwestern 
corner of the town, just outside the walls where they commence at 
the water side. It is entered from the city by the Puerta del Arsenal, 
and, with its pretty officers' quarters and green trees, looks quite 
attractive from the outside. 

At present it certainly does not amount to a great deal, though it 
has ship-houses, docks, machine-shops, and other things peculiar to 
naval construction. In days past, however, the arsenal of Havana 
was very celebrated. In 1722 they began building vessels of war, 
and quite a large number were built ; and the vessels obtained such 
a good reputation from the excellent quality of wood used that an 
arsenal was, in 1728, regularly constructed, and finished in 1734. 

Cannon were also cast, at one time, of bronze, the copper being 
furnished on the Island from the Cobre mines ; but everything in this 
way seems to be at a stand-still, the yard deserted, and no work of 



408 FAMOUS LOCALITIES AND BUILDINGS. 

any important nature being carried on. The dock is capable of dock- 
ing a vessel of one thousand tons, and their engine is of only twenty 
horse-power. Everything is very different from the bustle and life 
and extent of our navy-yards. 

Guards Mounted at the Gates. 

And now we will finish up our morning by returning by the way 
of" Los Ejidos," a street running inside and parallel to the old walls. 
Here were some of the most interesting features about Havana, giv- 
ing it that old air of walled antiquity, and offering some attractions to 
the student of history in the events so closely connected with their 
construction. Some are still standing, in tolerably good order, 
though they all have a somewhat dilapidated look, and are all to be 
torn down. A good smart cannonade would knock them to pieces 
very quickly. 

They are of not much use now, for they may be said to be in the 
very heart of the city, and would be of no avail in a strong attack 
against the city, as a city, except as a dernier resort for a small body 
of men. Guards are, however, still mounted at some of the gates, 
and cannon yet frown from the grass-grown battlements ; and the 
moat, with time and indifference, has become filled with all manner 
of structures — even truck gardens being laid out in some of them. 

These gates and walls used to be of great interest to most travelers, 
as they were for so many, many years, connected with the history of 
the old city of Havana ; and though as walls they no longer stand, 
yet the expression has become so familiarized that one still hears " in- 
side the walls " and " outside the walls " freely used. 

As portions of these walls are still in existence, and the trenches 
also, with their nondescript appearance, it may not be amiss to give 
here some historical facts pertaining to them. 

Some of the gates were constructed with an eye to architectural 
beauty originally, but are now among the memories of the past. 
The best of them was the Puerta de Tierra, near the Ursulinos con- 
vent, on Sol street, which still looks well, and had a somewhat 
imposing design. The gates of Monserrate were probably more 



FAMOUS LOCALITIES AND BUILDINGS. 409 

used than any other of the gates, there being two of them — one of 
egress, and the other ingress, for the busiest streets of Obispo and 
O'Reilly. 

As early as 1589, under the superintendence of the Governor and 
engineers Lejada and Antonelli, these walls were traced out, destined 
to take an important part in the defense of the town from the 
repeated attacks of the pirates, and have lasted nearly three centuries. 

If the old adage be true, that " the nearer the church the farther 
from God," then we fear much the people of Havana have no hope cf 
future salvation ; for to almost every square in the old city, within 
the walls, there seems to be a church of some kind, to many of which 
are attached religious societies or organizations. 

Priests with Three-cornered Hats. 

The priesthood and the church have probably a greater share in 
the life of the Cubans, particularly with the female portion, than any- 
thing else that goes to make up the sum of their simple daily life; 
and as one strolls along the street, he is met at almost every turn by 
some priest of some particular order, either in shovel or three-cor- 
nered hats, or, perhaps, like a stout old Franciscan — whose vows 
prevent him from having anything comfortable in this world — forced 
by the heat of the sun to forget his resolution of baring his head to 
the elements, and sporting an enormous palm-leaf, that answers the 
purposes of both hat and umbrella. 

The superior authority of the secular portion of the Cuban Church 
is the Captain-General, as Vice Royal Patron, and as his deputy in 
the Arch-bishopric of Cuba, the Commanding General of the Eastern 
Department. There are attached to the church a number of digni- 
taries of different grades, all drawing salaries in proportion to their 
rank ; while the government of the church is divided into four 
vicarages and forty-one parishes, the grand Cathedral being situated 
in the town of Santiago de Cuba. Besides the churches actual, 
there are a number of convents, monasteries, etc., belonging to the 
different orders of St. Domingo, San Francisco, Jesuits, San Agus- 
tin, etc., etc. 



410 FAMOUS LOCALITIES AND BUILDINGS. 

The Cuban Church, in comparison with that of other countries, is 
said to be poor, especially in the Arch-bishopric, the temples needing 
the magnificence and those church ornaments that the traveler on the 
continent of Europe admires so much. Notwithstanding, in some 
of the principal towns there are a few imposing structures, interest- 
ing from their great antiquity and ancient style of architecture, while 
upon special occasions the services carried on are tolerably rich and 
imposing. 

The first church that the traveler from any land (and particularly 
we Americans) will desire to visit, is the Cathedral, not from any 
great beauty of itself — though it is perhaps the most interesting 
church edifice in the city of Havana — but since within its walls lies 
ensconced beneath a simple slab all that remains of him who gave 
to the world, from his combined wisdom and courage, not only a 
new continent, but also a new theory of a world — Columbus. 

Magnificent Old Church. 

This old church, now the most magnificent one in the city, is very 
odd indeed, seen from the outside. Constructed of a peculiar col- 
ored brown stone, now blackened by age, it has no great beauty in its 
exterior architectural design; but yet, with its two queer old towers, 
its facade of pillars, niches, cornices, and mouldings, it is a striking 
looking edifice. It was erected in 1724, for a college of Jesuits, who 
at the time occupied the site where now is the Palace of the Captain- 
General. It is composed of the church edifice itself and the capa- 
cious buildings adjoining for the use of the priests of the order. 

It was, in November, 1789, constituted into a cathedral; has one 
large doorway in the centre, and two smaller ones, one on each side 
of that, with a solid stone piazza, reached by short flights of stone 
steps, at its front. There is also a side entrance by means of a stone 
court, on the other side of which are the dormitories of the priests. 

The church is shown to strangers at any hour of the day, by in- 
quiring of any of the priests you meet in the courtyard, and it is also 
open every morning and evening for Mass ; though it is best seen in 
the morning, when the soft sunlight comes into the building, giving 



FAMOUS LOCALITIES AND BUILDINGS. 



411 



good effect to the shadows and shades of the massive pillars and 
arches ; while the kneeling devotees serve to illustrate the great size 
of the structure by comparison. 

The grand altar is very handsome, as is also the choir in the rear. 
The carving of the stalls is exceedingly fine, being done in polished 
mahogany, in very light and graceful designs. At intervals around 
the church are several very beautiful al- 
tars, formed with solid pillars of mahoga- 
ny and cornices and moulding of the same 
material, richly gilt upon the most promi- 
nent parts. Each one of these altars is 
devoted to some particular saint, and 
boasts of some very good altar-pieces, 
copies of Raphael, Murillo, etc. 

The grand object of interest, however, 
is the " Tomb of Columbus;" and it is 
astonishing how many people there are 
who come to Havana that are ignorant of 
the remains of Columbus being in the 
precincts of Havana — having been trans- 
ferred from the place of his death. 

History tells us that Columbus died in Valladolid, Spain, on 
Ascension-day, the 20th of May, 1506; that his body was deposited 
in the convent of San Francisco, and his obsequies celebrated with 
funeral pomp in that city. His remains were afterwards transported, 
in 15 13, to the Carthusian Monastery of Seville, known as "Las 
Cuevas," where they erected a handsome monument to him, by com- 
mand of Ferdinand and Isabella, with the simple inscription, borne 
upon his shield, of — 

A CASTILE Y LEON, 




TOMB OF COLUMBUS. 



NUEVO MUNDO DIO COLON. 



In the year 1536, his body and that of his son Diego were re- 
moved to the city of St. Domingo, in the Island of Hayti, and in- 
terred at the principal chapel. But they were not permitted to rest 



412 FAMOUS LOCALITIES AND BUILDINGS. 

even there; for, on the 15th of January, 1796, they were brought to 
Havana, and interred in their present tomb, amidst grand and impos- 
ing ceremonies, participated in by the army, navy, and church officials, 
and an immense concourse of spectators. To use the words of a 
Spanish author: " Havana wept with joy, admiration, and gratitude 
at seeing enter within its precincts, in order to guard them forever, 
the ashes of Cristobal Colon." 

The ashes, it is understood, were deposited in an urn, which was 
placed in a niche in the wall, at the entrance and to the left of the 
chancel of the cathedral. Over this has been placed a slab of stone, 
elaborately carved, in a stone frame, and representing the bust of 
Columbus in the costume of the time, a wreath of laurel around his 
h^ad, and symbolical emblems t the foot of the medallion, upon 
which is inscribed, in Castilian : 

"Oh, rest thou, image of the great Colon, 
Thousand centuries remain, guarded in the urn, 
And in the remembrance of our nation.'' 

Well may the question be asked : Where, then, were all the muses 
when they inscribed such lines as these ? 



CHAPTER XXXII. 
Celebrated Avenues and Gardens. 

FOR a simple drive outside the walls, on the Paseo, in order to 
see and be seen, the afternoon hour of five or six o'clock is 
decidedly the best; but for combining pleasure with the busi- 
ness of sight-seeing, the cool, breezy hours of early morning are best, 
even though one does not then expect the pleasure of seeing the 
bright-eyed occupants of the elegant quitrin on his journey. 

The driver is directed to start from the end of the Prado, which 
opens directly upon the sea, with the Morro Castle opposite, on the 
other side of the entrance, while close at hand is the queer old fort 
of La Punta, originally a bastioned, star-shaped fort, now somewhat 
rambling in its form. This is, also, one of the antiquities of Havana; 
for on the very spot where it now stands landed the pirate, Robert 
Baal, when he attacked and burned the city, in 1543. San Salvador 
de la Punta, which is its original name, was begun at the same time 
as the Morro, and by the same engineers, in 1589, and finished in 1 597- 

To the left of the Prado, directly on the sea, can be seen the various 

~ea baths. Now facing toward the city, we begin our journey down 

the street Prado, or Paseo Isabel, a wide, capacious street, arranged 

as a boulevard, with rows of trees in the centre, beneath which are, 

at intervals, stone seats, and a promenade for foot-passengers, and on 

each side of this, again, the drives for carriages. The sides of the 

street are occupied by rows of fine buildings — private dwellings, 

many of them — with pillared porticoes, and tasty fronts of white or 

blue. This drive was first begun in 1771, and in 1772 was first 

opened. In 1797, under Santa Clara, it was extended, and several 

fountains erected upon it, and in Tacon's administration it received 

some improvements. 

After leaving the Punta, the first building that we notice is the 

413 



414 CELEBRATED AVENUES AND GARDENS. 

large yellow one to the left hand, occupying a whole square. It is 
the Royal Prison, and general headquarters of the council — singular 
combination — the front on the Paseo being used as quarters and 
offices, while the rear part, facing towards the walls, is the public 
prison for malefactors. 

This was also erected in 1771, and is in the form of a hollow square, 
the courtyard of which is used by the prisoners for exercise ; and 
they can be seen any day through the iron-grated gates or windows 
as well also as much of the prison as one wants to see. The student 
of physiognomy will find some interesting subjects at these windows 
any day, about twelve o'clock, when the prisoners are sometimes 
allowed to receive, through the gratings, packages from their friends, 
being first inspected by the sentries always on guard in the narrow, 
barred passages which separate the outer and inner world. 

Where Lopez Met his Death. 

The large open space beside the dungeon is used as a parade* 
ground; and it was here that the unfortunate Lopez met his death, 
dying like a brave man, after the unfortunate expedition, which s 
induced by the promises of the Creoles, he had conducted to Cuba, 
and in which he was defeated. Here, as already stated, in the pres- 
ence of a vast body of troops, on the 1st of September, 185 1, he was 
garroted, his last words being : " I die for my beloved Cuba." 

Scattered along the Paseo, at different intervals, are various foun- 
tains of stone and marble, many of them of very handsome design, 
and a few cf them of some antiquity, though nearly all of them 
appear to be diy. On the right-hand side of the Prado is the Gym- 
nasium and Fencing School, where is the best gymnasium in the city, 
with a very excellent instructor in calisthenics and dumb-bell exer- 
cise, as well also as a good French master-at-arms. The Cubans 
are, many of them, very fine gymnasts; and of a morning, from seven 
to nine, there is generally a very good class exercising under the 
supervision of the instructor. 

To the left is the theatre of Villa Nueva, a rather poor affair, and 
ufted mostly as a French theatre, or for the smaller Spanish dramatic 



CELEBRATED AVENUES AND GARDENS. 415 

companies. It is built of wood, principally, and never seems to be 
well filled. It has now become a historical place, from the fact that 
it was here the troops fired on the audience while attending a repre- 
sentation, during the ten years' war. 

On the Prado, opposite the gates of Monserrate, is what is known 
as the " Parque de Isabel," a portion of the street being laid out with 
grass-plots, gravel-walks, trees, and handsome iron settees, while in 
the centre is a marble statue of Isabel II. 

The Field of Mars. 

On the Paseo is the large square known as the " Campo de Marte," 
or field of Mars, where the troops are generally in the habit of exer- 
cising early in the morning, or during the winter about two o'clock 
in the day. It is a square somewhat in the form of a trapezium, with 
its longest side about two hundred and twenty-five yards in length, 
and surrounded by an iron railing upon a base of stone, combined 
with pillars of stone at regular intervals, and upon the top of each 
one of which is an iron bomb-shell, of large size, by way of orna- 
ments. 

It has four principal entrances, closed by iron gates, upon the top 
of the posts of which are placed bronze mortars ; and as the columns 
are large and well built, th^ gates have a good effect. They are 
called after the distinguished men who bore the names of Colon, 
Cortes, Pizarro, and Tacon, the latter being the founder of the square, 
which at various times has suffered considerable damage fror./ the 
tornadoes. It is now repaired and beautified. 

Directly opposite the square, in the centre of the Paseo, >"s the 
beautiful Glorieta, and fountain of India, surrounded by noble j>a!mas 
scales. The fountain is a work of considerable beauty, carved out 
of Carrara marble, and erected at the expense of the Count of Villa 
Nueva. It is one of the most beautiful of the public fountains, and 
does equal credit to the taste and heart of the patriotic citizen who 
erected it. 

Nearly opposite the fountain, on a smaii paseo leading from the 
Prado. is the Circus, and on the other side of the Campo de Marie 



410 CELEBRATED AVENUES AND GARDENS. 

is the magnificent private residence, or in fact palace, of the Aldama 
family, which was one of the richest in Cuba, and owned a number 
of the finest sugar estates in the Island, but since confiscated, owing 
to the family having interested themselves in the rebellion of 1868. 

The Queen's Street is a fine wide street, upon which there is gen- 
erally seen more life of an afternoon than on any other, although on 
some portions of it the buildings are not so fine as in the other 
streets. At its junction with the Paseo Tacon, there commences one 
of the prettiest drives about the city, having double rows of trees, 
with a promenade for foot passengers, and a fine, wide carriage-drive, 
which is the fashionable one of an afternoon, and where splendid 
equipages may be seen to advantage. At different intervals along 
this Paseo there are fountains erected, statues, and glorictas ; and of 
a fine day, with its beautiful women, elegant equipages, and long rows 
of shady trees, it presents a perspective and near view perfectly 
charming. 

Beautiful Botanical Gardens. 

Nearly at the end of the Paseo is a fine gateway, giving entrance 
to the beautiful gardens known as the Botanical Gardens {Jardin 
Botanico), and adjoining which are also the beautiful gardens belong- 
ing to the country place (Quinta) of the Captain-General, known as 
" Los Molinos." These are all so very beautiful and interesting that 
the stranger will, if he have time, want to pay them several visits, 
both morning and evening, as they offer more attractions than any 
public place pertaining to Havana. Even in the middle of the day, 
when it is too hot to go anywhere else, this is a cool, pleasant, shady 
place, in which to pass the midday hours. They are open day and 
night, and any one is allowed to enter and stroll through the beauti- 
ful walks, shaded and surrounded by most exquisite tropical flowers, 
shrubs, and trees. 

Nothing can be more delightful, of a warm morning or evening, 
than a saunter through these magnificent grounds, rivaling in their 
beauty, luxuriance, and novelty any garden that we have in the 
United States. The best plan, on a casual visit, is to leave your 
carriage at the entrance of the Botanical Gardens, and direct the 



CELEBRATED AVENUES AND GARDENS. 417 

driver to meet you at the entrance to the Quinta, some distance 
above; and you can then, after strolling through the gardens, pass 
into those of the Captain-General, and, enjoying them, sally out by 
the magnificent Avenue of Palms that leads from the gateway to the 
house. In the Botanical Gardens there are specimens of almost every 
tropical plant, and directly in the centre is a large stone basin, filled 
with the finest water-lilies, and in the middle of that a rustic fountain, 
made of shells. 

Lovers' Romantic Walk. 

Passing from these gardens, you enter those belonging to the 
Quinta, which are somewhat larger, and contain some very beauti- 
ful walks, — one of which, nearly one hundred yards long, is as com- 
plete a lovers' walk as the most ardent pair could desire. It is 
formed of the rose of the Pacific Ocean, growing to a good height, 
and covered with flowers of a light pink color, the bushes forming z. 
handsome green and fragrant arch over the head of the pedestrian. 

There is an artificial fountain or cascade, formed, also, by permitting 
the waters of a small creek to pass over artificial rocks, which form 
underneath a damp and, it must be said, unattractive cavern ; while 
the waters are carried off by a canal, upon the surface of which 
rest the pleasure-boats of his Excellency, the banks being shaded by 
the overhanging trees, and inhabited by some curious breeds of 
ducks. An aviary or two there are also, filled with some species of 
doves of different kinds, while in the centre of the gardens stands 
the comfortable house of the Captain-General, and the buildings per- 
taining thereto. 

The avenues of palms in these gardens will strike the visitor with 
astonishment, as something surpassingly graceful, beautiful, and 
majestic ; while he can study to advantage the cocoa and plantain 
trees, with which the gardens are filled. The whole place would 
be perfect in itself, in the way of a garden, were it not that it has been 
necessary to run a railroad through the middle of it, the noise from 
the passing trains of which breaks at times inharmoniously upon the 
ear as one saunters enjoyingly through the fragrant and otherwise 
quiet paths. 
27 



418 CELEBRATED AVENUES AND GARDENS. 

The gardens seem to be divided off under different names, as may 
be seen by the sign-boards, at different places, designating the gar- 
dens of San Antonio, the Queen, the Wood of the Princess. A 
military guard is in and about the gardens all the time. It has been 
the custom for the Captains-General to spend their summers here ; 
but it having got abroad that the place was unhealthy, it has not been 
so often occupied lately, the Governors going out to Marianao or 
Puentes Grandes. Be that as it may, it is a lovely spot for the 
stranger, on his winter visit, to stroll into and pass his time agreeably, 
whether sauntering through the shady walks with some lady friend, 
or smoking his fragrant Havana beneath the stately palms. 

View of the Surrounding Country. 

From these gardens, if the traveler is anxious for exercise, he can 
mount up to the fort upon the hill, known as the " Principe," whence 
there is a good view of the surrounding country, always provided the 
sentry will allow him to pass. The fort itself is small, though some^ 
what old, having been built, in 1763, for the protection of the village 
and bay of Chorrera. 

Leaving now the Quinta, we have a very pretty view of the contin- 
uation of the Paseo, with its rows of trees that shade the road so 
nicely, and which have attained such a luxuriant growth that it 
makes this, with reason, one of the most charming portions of the 
afternoon drive of the Habaneros. Turning again into a fine, wide 
avenue, known as the " Calzada de la Infanta," we drive over to a 
long, handsome street, known as " El Cerro " (the hill), and leading 
out to a little village of that name. It is a very handsome street, 
about three miles long, lined on each side with the beautiful and 
comfortable residences of the fashionable and wealthy, for whom this 
with its surroundings is the principal place of residence, particularly 
in the summer. 

Here is an ample field for the study of tropic architecture, hardly 
any two houses being alike, yet all with the same general plan, very 
different indeed from our ideas of comfort, and yet probably the best 
plan that can be adopted for this climate. Not only on the " Cerro," 



CELEBRATED AVENUES AND GARDENS. 41i 

but everywhere in the cities, is the stranger struck by the peculiari- 
ties of this Cuban architecture, with its enormous windows, without a 
particle of glass, but grated with strong iron bars, the single story of 
height, the tremendous doorways, their massive doors studded, many 
of them, with numerous brass knobs and decorations, all bearing the 
appearance of having been built for defence from outside attack. 

Houses of Singular Construction. 

Upon the Cerro, the houses are modernized somewhat, having 
their stables and carriages in their rear, and in front stone piazzas, 
elevated some distance above the level of the street. Passages are 
not at all frequent in the houses, and the principal entrance opens 
directly into large and cool halls, which are in fact rooms and fur- 
nished as such, laid with marble-tiled floors, and connected with th? 
rooms beyond by large archways. 

These halls are usually the dining-rooms, where always there is a 
breeze from the open courtyard or through the wide sa/a, or parlor, 
at the entrance ; the whole being devoid of curtains, and exposed to 
the eye or curiosity of every passerby. The ceilings are uncom- 
monly high, and the houses are, without exception, open on the 
interior side to the patio, or courtyard, which affords, even of the 
warmest days, a chance for some air. 

This patio takes with those in the cities the place of our gardens ; 
all the rooms open to it, and where there is a second story, a gallery 
runs around the entire square, having either blinds or fancy-colored 
awnings for protection from the sun's rays, which have full scope in 
the open centre of the square. 

This secures a free circulation of air, a shady place in which to sit 
or walk, and very often, when the patio is laid out with walks, flow- 
ers, fountains, and orange, pomegranate, or mignonette trees, a 
charming place in which to dream one's idle hours away. 

Here are also to be seen some superb specimens of the cactus, 
which in Cuba grows to an immense size, and possesses great 
strength, for a plant of this kind, in its branches, some of which will 
bear a man seated on them. In the trenches around Havana are 



420 CELEBRATED AVENUES AND GARDENS. 

also other fine specimens, which have a very odd appearance at times 
from the large quantities of fine dust that settle on them. On our 
return, we pass through the " Calzada Galiano," one of the finest 
streets in the city, and always having new charms, with its width, pil- 
lared porticoes, and regular architecture, to say nothing of the con- 
stant life there visible. 

The great charm of Cuba for the traveler from the United States is 
the entire change of appearance of matters and things from what he 
is accustomed to. From the time of landing at Havana, with one's 
mind filled with the Spanish life as described in Irving's " Alhambra" 
and " Granada," or as written in Prescott's works, there is an 
additional pleasure of seeing, verified with one's own eyes, those 
peculiarities of houses, climate, and people, described somewhat in 

tKose works. 

Charm and Novelty Everywhere. 

From the moment of entering the bay of Havana, where one sees 
the city before him, with all its oddities of colors, and shapes, and 
styles of its walls, with an occasional palm or cocoa tree to give a 
marked type to its appearance, to the time of turning his back upon 
the luxuriant Coffee Mountains of the east, or sugar-cane clad 
prairies of the valleys, there is one constant charm of novelty, and 
very often ridiculously so. 

The first thing that strikes the novice, in wandering through the 
old town of Havana, is the solidity of the buildings and the narrow- 
ness of the streets, the smallness of the sidewalks of which will 
cause him at first some considerable annoyance in stepping off into, 
perhaps, the muddy street, for the purpose of giving the " right of 
way " to some pedestrian who is keeping to the right, " as the law 
directs ; " or, when disgusted with the constant getting out of the 
way, he takes to the middle of the street, and is suddenly punched 
in the ribs by the shafts of some volante, whose driver has gauged 
his pulling up so nicely that he just avoids running over you. 

Then the houses, hardly ever more than one story high — never 
mere than two — with their tremendous doors and windows ; when, if 
the door is open, you see a handsome flight of stone steps, perhaps, 



CELEBRATED AVENUES AND GARDENS. 421 

leading to the upper story, the walls all gaily painted in white and 
blue, or yellow ; the entrance probably taken up with a gorgeous 
quitrin, or, perhaps, a handsome carriage, according as to whether the 
family are wealthy, and occupy the whole house, or only well-off, and 
keep the upper stories, renting out the lower ones, which are probably 
filled with merchandise. Notice, now, this great door to the large 
and showy mansion. It is shut ; but see how resplendent it is with 
brass decorations, latches, hinges, door-plates, or studded with 
quaintly-shaped brass-headed bolts, with shining handles. 

Is it wonderful that an American, with his national character for 
impudence, should follow in the steps of the courtly and stately 
Spaniard, when he sees a pair of lovely eyes peeping at him from 
behind the curtain of the barred window, and, doffing his hat, should 
exclaim, with antique gallantry, "Senorita, I put myself at your feet," 
or " the surprising beauty of your lovely eyes will not permit of my 
passing by, Senorita, without doing them homage ? " — grateful if he 
is rewarded, as he always will be, by bright glances from the dark- 
haired damsel, who, with a stately smile, utters her " Gracias Senor," 
in return for what she deems only due tribute. 

Peculiar Types of Character. 

Here's a contrast ! Now mark that great negro, with his ridiculous- 
looking wheelbarrow, appearing as though it had come out of the 
ark, such is the simplicity of its construction ; the negro himself, 
without head-covering, with as little clothing as the law allows (if 
there is any law in such matters), generally ragged pants, and a por- 
tion of a shirt only. 

Here we are in the ever-busy street O'Reilly, which, like Obispo 
or Ricla, one never gets tired of wandering in. Do not imagine for 
a moment, if you want to find any particular store, that you must 
ask for Mr. Smith's or Mr. Jones's establishment; oh, no, — these 
people do not generally travel under their own names ; but, like a 
hotel, stick up something that is unique, expressive, or easily re- 
membered. As a consequence, you have " The Nymphs," " The 
Looking Glass," " The Little Isabel," the " Green Cross," which you 



422 CELEBRATED AVENUES AND GARDENS. 

see gets its name from the big Maltese cross, built into the wall of 
that corner store, and hundreds of other funny, curious, and expres- 
sive names. 

Just look down that street, this hot February day. See those fancy- 
colored awnings, stretching across all the way down, to keep the warm 
sun away from our heads ; those handsome shop windows, or the 
stores themselves, in fact, with their shelves almost upon the street, 




PINE-APPLE PLANTATION. 



all reminding one of the descriptions of Eastern bazaars, were it not 
that the well-dressed men that are scattered through the non-coated, 
cool-looking people, show the presence, in a civilized land, of capital 
tailor's work. 

And now, while intent upon the sights, you hear a shout of " Cui- 
dado! cuidado!" (take care), behind you, and jumping out of the 
way, in the expectation that your last hour is come, you are convulsed 
with laughter at the cause of your alarm, in a most ridiculously small 
donkey pulling a big cart, while upon the back of the donkey, per- 
haps, are piled a dozen folded blankets or cloths ; upon top of which, 
again, is a great cumbersome saddle, big enough and heavy enough 
for a French cuirassier. 



CELEBRATED AVENUES AND GARDENS. 423 

Poor little donkey ! He has just twice as much load as is neces- 
sary to carry, but the plucky little fellow goes sturdily along as if it 
was all right. Now, turning a corner, we are suddenly taken aback 
by a negro girl, with a white child in her arms, out for an airing, we 
suppose, from the nature of the apparel, which consists of just th' 
amount of hair usually found on the heads of children, and which 
probably the novice thinks is a little too airy for the public streets of 
a city like Havana. 

Only his Head, to be Seen. 

" Halloa ! what's up now, in this narrow street we are going 
through ? " you will ask, as, looking ahead, you see it completely 
stopped up with a mass of green vegetable matter that is coming 
down on you with hardly any perceptible propelling aid ; however, 
now it is near, you descry the long-eared head of a small donkey, 
or perhaps a Cuban horse, almost buried under a load of green fodder, 
piled upon and beside him in such manner that nothing is to be seen 
except the head and feet of the little fellow, who, while thus buried, 
has not even the satisfaction of a quiet little chew of the material 
that surrounds him, for his mouth is muzzled up in a curiously netted 
muzzle of twine. 

This fodder constitutes, with corn, the only food given to horses in 
Havana, and is all brought in from the surrounding country on the 
backs of mules, sometimes ten or twelve in number, strung together 
like a lot of beads, head and tail. No oats are raised, or grain of any 
kind, in the Island, except the small sweet ears of Indian corn which 
is grown everywhere, and the stalks of which, with the tender tops of 
the sugar-cane, make up the only food to be had for horses. 

There's another fellow bawling out at this early hour something 
he calls " leche, leche ; " and which we find to be milk he is carrying 
around in those immense tin cans, stuck away in the straw or palm 
panniers hanging over his horse's back, and which, with the hot sun 
and the motion, would soon get churned to butter, or rather oil, the 
*atter being the way they use it on the Island. 

Again is heard a peculiar clattering, as if crockery was being 



424 CELEBRATED AVENUES AND GARDENS. 

hardly dealt with, and which is found to proceed from the hands of a 
peripatetic " Chinois," who takes to the street for a market for his 
wares. Here he is, now, a regular thorough-going " John China- 
man," who, after having served out his time as a Coolie on perhaps 
some large sugar estate, has become imbued with the ambitious 
desire of being a merchant, and no longer remaining in his hard- 
working way of life as a " trabajador " in the hot sugar fields. 

Having saved sufficient money from his hard earnings, or, what is 
more likely, made his capital by gambling with his more verdant and 
less fortunate fellows, he has started in trade, with a bamboo yoke 
carried over his shoulders, and pendant from the ends of which hang 
two large, round baskets, filled with crockery of all kinds. 

Clad in thin, wide pantaloons, a blue dungaree shirt, with a broad 
palm-leaf hat on his head, and his feet thrust into loose, heelless 
slippers, he perambulates the streets, seeking to tempt the cautious 
housewife into purchasing something of him — not by the dulcet 
sounds of his voice (which sounds like a turkey-gobbler), but by the 
insinuating music of the wares themselves, emitted in a peculiar 
sound and way by the half-dozen saucers he carries in his hand, and 
which he is constantly throwing up gently, and letting them fall one 
upon the other with a sharp, continuous, rattling sound that will 
bring the indolent housewife quickly to the window, if she wants 
anything in that line. No danger of his breaking them in this way 
of making himself known, for the Chinese are celebrated for their 
sleight of hand, and this is evidence of it. 

Now we hear the fruit-venders crying out their wares, as they 
walk beside their pannier-loaded horses. " Naraiijas, uaranjas, 
dulces " (oranges, sweet oranges), he cries ; which, in the season pro- 
per for them, you can buy of him, the largest and ripest kind, for a 
peseta (twenty cents) the dozen, or less, — as well as other fruits of 
the country. Although the oranges are ripe all the year round, there 
seems to be a profusion of them in the early Spring months, unless, 
as is the case some years, they are somewhat scarce from the torna- 
does having destroyed many of the trees. 

Look at this ridiculous sight, — that fellow, a poultry-dealer, going 



CELEBRATED AVENUES AND GARDENS. 425 

up the street there ahead of us, mounted upon his donkey, his feet 
projecting out in front, while he is high up on the pack that holds his 
large, square panniers of chickens, which he has brought in from the 
country to dispose of, and which he carries safely in the baskets, 
corded over the tops with a net work, or more frequently a cloth, the 
polios sticking forth their heads from time to time, and doubtless 
wondering, as they keep up their cachinating, why their master is 
thus treating them to this morning's paseo. 

Now we meet a " dulce " seller. As a general thing they are neat- 
looking mulatto women, rather better attired than most of the 
colored women one me- ts in the street. They carry a basket on the 
arm, or perhaps upon the head, while in their hands they have a 
waiter, with all sorts of sweetmeats, — mostly, however, the preserved 
fruits of the country, and which are very delicious, indeed, — much 
affected by ladies. 

We need not have any hesitation in buying from these women, as 
they usually are sent out by private families, the female members of 
which make these dulces for their living, the saleswoman often being 
the only property they own, and having no other way (or, perhaps, 
too proud, if they have) of gaining a livelihood. 

Here is something that won't strike you quite so agreeably. Did 
you ever see anything more disgusting than that great negro wench, 
— a large clothes-basket on her head, a colossal cigar sticking out 
from between her thick lips, while she walks along, majestically 
trailing an ill-fitting, loose dress (probably the only article of apparel 
she has on) after her slip-shod strides ? She puts on airs, occa- 
sionally, if you scold her for spoiling your clothes, that you have 
rashly trusted her to wash for you. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 
Sugar-making in Cuba. 

A BOOK on the Island of Cuba without a chapter on sugar-mak- 
ing would hardly be complete, ic the cultivation of the 
cane is also added, on the same place where the cane is 
raised, and by the same proprietor, the manufacture of sugar, such 
places being called in the Cuban dialect ingenios, or sugar estates, the 
carrying on of which requires a large amount of capital, a great 
degree of intelligence, and much mechanical skill. 

These ingenios vary in size from five hundred to ten thousand 
acres, though the results of their crops are not always in p/oportion 
to the number of their acres, that depending more particularly upon 
the nature of the soil of the particular locality in which they are situ- 
ated, and the degree of intelligence and amount of labor with which 
they are worked. Each one of the ingenios is, in some degree, liks a 
small village, or, as with the larger ones, quite a town, in which are 
substantial edifices, numerous dwellings, and expensive machinery, 
together with a large number of inhabitants, the different officials 
necessary for their government and management representing the 
<:ivil officers, except with, perhaps, greater powe: 

The buildings upon a first-class sugar estate are generally a dwell- 
ing-house {casa de vivienda), which, from its size, style, and cost, 
might sometimes be called a palace, some of them having, in addition 
to numerous other conveniences, small chapels in which to celebrate 
the religious services of the estate ; the dwelling being occupied by 
the owner and his family, if living on the estate ; if not, by the admin- 
istrador, who is charged with the care and management of the estate 
in the absence of the owner, and who, in fact may be said to be the 
man of the place. 

There is also the house occupied by the mayoral, as he is called 
the chief of the negro laborers, whose business it is to follow the 
42tf 



SUGAR-MAKING IN CUBA. 427 

laborers to the field to see that they do their work properly, and that 
sufficient amount of cane is cut to keep the mill constantly supplied 
with material to grind; in fact he has a general supervision of all the 
agricultural duties of the estate, receiving his orders only from the 
owner or ad minis trador, as the case may be. The mayorales are gen- 
erally very ordinary men, of no education, the intelligence they pos- 
sess being simply that gained by long experience in this kind of 
business. 

The maquinista, or engineer, is really the most important man 
upon the place, as upon him depend the grinding of the cane and the 
care of the mill and its machinery — that it is kept in good and run- 
ning order, so that no delay may take place in the grinding season. 
His quarters are generally in some part of the mill, where he man- 
ages to be pretty comfortable. 

American Engineers. 

These engineers are mostly young Americans, with now and then 
an Englishman or a German ; but the Americans are much preferred 
on account of their superior intelligence and assiduous attention to 
fhc : r business. Their pay is from one thousand two hundred to two 
thousand five hundred dollars for the grinding season, which begins 
iibout December and ends nearly always in or before June, most of 
(he engineers going over to the States to pass the summer, or, as 
K Jiey express it, " to have a good time." 

The Hospital is always an important building on these places, as it 
is the only place where the sick can be treated and properly taken 
:are of. It is usually arranged with a great deal of care and neat- 
ness, the building being divided off into different wards for men and 
women, and also for contagious diseases ; it is generally in charge of 
a hospital steward, who has quite an apothecary shop in his charge, 
ind who receives his instructions from the attending physician, who 
also attends a number of the estates in the same locality, visiting each 
one generally every day, and receiving compensation at so much per 
year. As a matter of simple economy, to say nothing of charity, the 
invalids get the best of treatment, and are not sent back to work 



428 



SUGAR-MAKING IN CUBA. 



until they are completely restored, though while convalescing they 
are required to do light work, such as making baskets, hats, etc. 

The Nursery is also quite an important place, and is highly amus- 
ing to visit, for here the future hopes of the plantation are cared for. 
These little black, naked sinners, running and tumbling over each 
other in great glee, are generally kept in a large room, with rows 
of cradles or cribs on each side, in which each little ore ia kept at 




INTERIOR OF A SUGAR-MILL. 



night, the old women who are too feeble to work any longer being 
retained as nurses in charge, while the mothers of the little ones are 
out at work in the fields, being allowed, two or three times a day, to 
return and suckle such infants as need the mother's milk. 

It is very amusing to enter one of these nurseries when the children 
are being fed, and see their gambols and antics, and the expression of 
the little ones' eyes as they see the white master, as he is called, and 
with whom they keep on friendly terms, enter their quarters. They 
all appear to be happy and jolly, and make as much noise and have 
as much fun as would satisfy any " radical " in the States. Poor 
things, they happily know nothing of the hard lot in store for them. 



SUGAR-MAKING IN CUBA. 429 

But the most important of all the buildings is, of course, the Sugar- 
mill, which generally consists of the engine-house, where is all the 
machinery and power for grinding, boiling and working the cane and 
juice, and the purging and drying-houses. The engine-house is gen- 
erally an extremely large roof, supported by pillars and posts, and 
entirely open on all sides — in fact, nothing more than a very well 
constructed shed to keep off the sun and rain, the floor being mostly 
paved with brick, and the stairways leading from one portion of the 
building to another being of solid stone. In fact, one of these mills 
of the first class is a very handsome affair — everything about it, the 
engines and the machinery being kept in the most scrupulously clean 
order, equal to a man-of-war. 

How the Employees Live. 

On the larger places there are generally what are called barracoons, 
or quarters for the workmen. They are large buildings, constructed of 
stone, in the form of a quadrangle, on the inner side of which are the 
rooms for the negroes, to which there is only one main entrance ; 
this is shut at night when the hands are all in. 

On the outside, and much better built, there are rooms occupied 
by the different white men connected with the place and not other- 
wise provided for ; probably, also, a long row of stables for the many 
horses usually kept upon places of this kind, and of which there is no 
lack, either for work or play. 

On other places, again, the negroes live in bohios, or huts — some 
few constructed of stone, but most of them simply log or cane huts, 
of the most ordinary description, thatched with palm-leaf or grass, 
and making no attempt at comfort, but simply serving as shelters 
from the rain. In the Southern States the ir.iserable habitations 
called cabins are bad enough ; but these are worse ; though, to be 
sure, in a climate like this it does not matter much about shelter — 
all one wants is shade. 

The Purging-house is generally of very great extent, being two 
stories high, and of great length. The floor of the upper story is 
simply a series of strong frames, with apertures for placing in them 



430 



SUGAR-MAKING IN CUBA. 



the hormas, funnel-shaped cylinders of tin or sheet- iron, into which 
is put the molasses to drain into troughs beneath. One side of this 
house is open, in order to permit the gavetas, or large boxes upon 
wheels, into which are put the forms of sugar, to be run in and out 
conveniently. In these boxes, which are immensely large, the sugar 




SECTION OF PURGING-HOUSE. 



in forms is broken up and exposed to the air and sun, for the purpose 
of thoroughly drying it. 

The number of these hormas is something wonderful, there being in 
some of the houses as many as twenty thousand. Beneath the upper 
floor are a number of troughs, each trough having a slant to a main 
trough. Over the minor troughs are the mouths of the aforesaid 
funnels, which permit the molasses draining from the pans of sugar 
above to run into the troughs, which again convey it to large vats or 
hogsheads, called bocoyes, each of which holds from twelve to fifteen 
hundred gallons. It is in this process that they make the distinction 
of the different sugars — bianco, or white ; quebvado, or broken ; and 
the common, dark-colored sugar called cuciivncho. 



SUGAR-MAKING IN CUBA. 431 

In making these three qualities of sugar, a layer of moist earth or 
clay is placed upon the top of the pans of crystallized syrup, from 
which the moisture, draining constantly through, carries off all the 
imperfections, leaving the pans full of dry sugar in the form of solid 
cases, and generally of three colors ; that nearest the top, pure white; 
next below that, the discolored ; and at the bottom of that, the moist 
or dark colored. 

If, however, it is desired to make only a moscabado sugar, which is 
of a rich brown color, and does not require the same time or pains 
as the finer qualities, the syrup is simply put in the large hogsheads, 
before described, and allowed to drain off in the natural way without 
the process of " claying " it, as it is called. This, of course, makes 
more sugar of an average inferior grade, which weighs more, having 
the molasses in it ; and this is the sugar generally preferred by sugar 
refiners. 

Various Workshops. 

Besides the above, other buildings there are, of different kinds, 
necessary to large establishments like these, such as cooper, carpen- 
ter, and blacksmith shops; while there are also, on the best estates, 
gas works, at which is manufactured the gas with which the mill and 
buildings are illuminated, it being found much cheaper and cleaner 
to manufacture and use gas than oil. 

Of the persons directly in charge of making the sugar there are 
one or two upon each place whose business it is to see to the boiling 
and refining of the sugar, and who are known as sugar-makers, 
receiving for their services from eight hundred to one thousand 
dollars each per annum. 

It is calculated that to every one thousand boxes of sugar, con- 
sisting of four hundred pounds each, it is necessary to have from 
fifty to seventy-five hands; for, of course, the greater supply of labor 
there is, the better are the chances of making the sugar of superior 
quality. Of these laborers the larger proportion are negroes, while 
upon nearly every place there are more or less Chinese or Coolies, 
all of whom are divided into classes and divisions, according to the 
labor for which they are desired. 



432 SUGAR-MAKING IN CUBA. 

Guardianes, or guardians, are stationed in small huts at the entrances 
to the estates, and act as porters, though their lodges are nothing 
more, usually, than a simple shelter hut, of grass or palm-leaf, the 
occupants being generally old men unfit for hard labor. Firemen- 
attend to keeping up the furnace fires, which are generally placed it. 
a cavity, or sort of cellar in the ground, upon one side of the mill 
there being left a large space in front of the furnaces into which the 
carts, upon backing up to its edge, empty their loads of mashed 
cane, the only fuel used to generate steam. These carts are rude, 
rough affairs, invariably drawn by either one or two yoke of oxen. 

The Bill of Fare. 

The bulk of the hands used in the general operations of the place, 
cutting cane, plowing, etc., are known as the gentc, or " people." 
They are pretty well taken care of as regards food, at least in quantity 
if not in quality ; they get tasajo, or dried beef, boniatos, or sweet 
potatoes, rice, and plantains which answer for bread, and of which 
they are very fond, eating them either roasted or fried. 

The clothing they wear is limited, not only in quality, but quantity, 
the children usually going about stark naked — the women with only a 
calico dress on, and the men wearing only their pants. It is rather 
a novel sight, at the eleven o'clock halt from work, to see these peo- 
ple gathering for their rations. 

Attached to every estate is the potrero, or corral, where are herded 
the cattle used in doing the hauling on the place, and also those in- 
tended for supplying the hands with meat. 

Of the cane itse'f there are several species known in Cuba. The 
criolla, or native cane, is the oldest known, being that brought to 
Spain by Columbus, on his second voyage, from the Canaries, but is 
thin, poor, and not very juicy ; that of Otaheite, which is large, thick 
and preferred by the sugar-makers, being introduced into the Island 
in 1795 ; that of the Cristallina, last introduced, and cultivated by 
many ^s preferable to that of Otaheite, a cartful of which will give a 
pan and a half of dry sugar, amounting to about sixty pounds. 

The height stained by the cane, averaging as it does six or eight 



SUGAR-MAKING IN CUBA. 432 

leet, and sometimes reaching twenty, the length of joint, the color, 
and many other particulars, vary with different species, with the 
character of the soil, and with the mode of culture adopted. The 
stems are divided by prominent annular joints into short lengths 
from each joint of which there sprout long, narrow leaves, which, as 
the canes approach maturity, drop off from the lower joints. 

The outer part of the cane is hard and brittle, but the inner con- 
sists of a soft pith containing the sweet juice, which is elaborated 
separately in each joint. This is very nutritious, and is eaten in 
large quantities by the negroes, who in their leisure moments are 
generally supplied with a piece at which they constantly suck, hav- 
ing prepared it by stripping off the outer skin, which leaves in a good 
piece of cane almost a solid lump of sugar. 

The cane is propagated by slips or cuttings, consisting of the top 
of the cane with two or three of the upper joints, the leaves being 
stripped off These are planted, either in holes dug by hand or in 
trenches formed by a plough, about eight or twelve inches deep, the 
faith being banked up upon the margin, and well manured; two or 
more slips are laid longitudinally at the bottom of each hole, and 
covered with earth from the banks to the depth of one or two inches. 

In about a fortnight the sprouts appear a little above the earth, and 
then a little more earth from the bank is put in the hole, and as the 
plants continue to grow, the earth is occasionally filled in a little at a 
time, until, after four or five months, the holes are entirely filled up. 

The planting takes place in the intervals of the rainy season, 
which commences regularly in June, and lasts until October or 
November, the cutting taking place immediately after the Christmas 
holidays, and continuing on up to May, even, in some cases. 

The maturity of the cane is indicated by the skin becoming dry, 
smooth, and brittle, by the cane becoming heavy, the pith gray 
ipproaching to brown, and the juice sweet and glutinous. It is 
usual to raise several crops in successive years from the same roots, 
the plan, I believe, being to plant about one-third of the grounds 
every year. 

When the cane is ripe for cutting, the mill is put in complete run- 
28 



434 SUGAR-MAKING IN CUBA. 

ning order, and the hands, under the charge of the mayoral, proceed 
to the field of now green cane, each negro — man, woman, or child — 
armed with a machete, or knife of peculiar construction, something 
like a butcher's cleaver, and very strong and sharp. Spreading them- 
selves out over the field, they begin the cutting of the cane, first by 
one cut at the top, which takes off the long leaves and that part of 
the cane which is worthless, except as it is used for food for the 
cattle ; a second cut is then given as near the root as possible, the 
cane falling carelessly to the ground, from which it is gathered as 
wanted. 

A Lively Scene. 

A field in the cutting season presents a lively sight, with its three 
or four hundred laborers superintended by the mayoral on horseback, 
its carpet of cut cane, and its long lines of slowly-moving carts, with 
their noisy drivers, while the sea of standing cane, sometimes extend- 
ing for miles and miles, is stirred by the gentle breeze into waves of 
undulating green. 

The carts being now piled up with the cane, and the fodder left 
upon the ground to be carried off another time, they drive back in a 
long line to the mill, where they empty the cane under a large shed, 
close to that portion of the mill wherein is the crusher. 

This pile of cane generally becomes immense, as the carts keep 
continually bringing it in faster than the mill can grind during the 
day; and at night, work in the field, as a general thing, ceases — a 
portion of the hands going in the early part of the evening to get 
their rest, while the others keep feeding the cane to the mill. 
Towards morning, when the stock on hand gets low, the negroes are 
called up, and sent out to the field to keep up the supply of cut cane, 
the engine never ceasing to run night or day, unless in case of acci- 
dent, during the whole of the grinding season. 

The cane being deposited under the shed at the mill in sufficient 
quantities, the engine is started, and the machinery put in motion. 
The cane is then thrown by the hands upon an endless inclined flexi- 
ble conductor, formed of strips of wood and links of chain, which, 
being constantly in motion, and passing round a cylinder near the 



SUGAR-MAKING IN CUBA. 435 

crushers, throws the cane into their jaws, by which the juice is com- 
pletely pressed out of it, and passes in a continuous stream into the 
troughs beneath, while the refuse cane is carried out on the other 
side intc a wooden trough, from which it is taken by hand, placed in 
carts, and carried off to the furnaces. 

These crushers, or maquinas de moler, as they are called, consist of 
three immensely large, solid, iron rollers, placed horizontally, revolv- 
ing, one above and two beneath, in a kind of pyramidal form, the 
opening between the upper and first lower one being larger than that 
between the upper and second lower one, in order to form more of a 
mouth with which to draw in the cane from the feeder. 

The juice, as it now runs out in a liquid state, is an opaque fluid, of 
a dull gray or olive-green color, of a sweet, pleasant taste, and is 
known by the name of guarapo. It is quite thick, and holds in sus- 
pension particles of the cane and refuse, which are separated from it 
by filtration. This liquid is so exceedingly fermentable that it is 
necessary to clarify it immediately. It runs from the mill by means 
of troughs or conductors, passing in its course into pans of copper, 
pierced with holes like a cullender, through which the liquor runs, 
leaving its refuse matter on the surface to be disposed of by a man 
constantly in attendance for the purpose. 

It is then forced, by means of pumps, into large tanks, from which 
it is conveyed by a trough to the clarifiers, which are large kettles 
heated by steam. In these, defecation takes place, the process being 
assisted by four or five ounces of lime to every four hundred and 
fifty gallons of boiling liquid contained in each kettle. Sometimes 
more lime is required, this depending entirely upon the density of the 
juice. 

In connection with these vats, which are known as clarifiers, there 
is generally used a test paper, by which the juice is tested as it 
comes from the mill, to ascertain the amount of acidity in it. This 
is a simple chemically-prepared paper, of a blue color, which, on 
being put into the liquid, turns to a red color, more or less intense 
according to the degree of acidity in the juice. 

From the clarifiers, the juice, after settling, is filtered through vats, 



436 SUGAR-MAKING IN CUBA. 

filled nearly up to the top with bone-black, which is usually used two 
or three times, or until the juice changes color or does not run off 
well. The length of time which the bone-black is used is the real 
secret of the difference in some sugars ; and, as proof of this, on the 
estates where the finest sugars are made, the bone-black is changed 
every eight hours ; while on the estates where the poorest sugar is 
made, it is changed only once in two or three days. 

From these clarifying vats there are three copper troughs, — one 
for molasses, one for cane-juice, and one for syrups. Trom these 
three troughs as many pipes lead to large tanks, which are simply 
receptacles for the material accumulating. From these tanks, again, 
the liquor is conveyed to the vacuum-pans, the principle of latent 
heat being made use of to evaporate the cane-juice. 

These vacuum-pans are three in number, the first of which is for 
juice, the second for syrup, and the third a strike-pan, as it s called. 
The vacuum-pan consists of a close copper vessel, perfectly air tight, 
the middle portion cylindrical, and from six to seven feet in diam- 
eter, the upper portion convex or dome-shaped, and the bottom also 
convex, but lees so than the top. The bottom of the pan is double, 
the cavity between the inner and outer bottom forming a receptacle 
for steam ; and there is also a coiled steam-pipe just over the upper 
bottom. There is one pipe of communication with the vessel of clar- 
ified syrup, one with the vessel which is to receive the crystallized 
sugar, and one with an air-pump, and there are numerous valves, 
gauges, etc. 

In using the pan, a quantity of liquid sugar is admitted, and the 
air-pump is set to work to exhaust all the air from the pan in order 
that the contents may boil at a low temperature. To enable the per~ 
son who superintends the process to ascertain when the syrup is 
sufficiently evaporated, the pan is supplied with a very ingenious 
appendage called the proof-stick, by which a little of the sugar can 
be taken out, and its state ascertained by the touch. Some of the 
pans have a small glass window, through which can be seen the liquid 
in a boiling state. 

The clarified juice from the tank before mentioned is pumped into 



SUGAR-MAKING IN CUBA. 43? 

the first pan, from the first into the second, it having now become 
syrup of twenty-eight degrees density ; thence it is pumped into 
syrup clarifiers, then skimmed, then run again through filters of 
bone-black; out of these filters it goes to the syrup-trough, and 
thence to the syrup-tank before mentioned. 

It is now ready for the third or strike-pan, being drawn up by the 
vacuum at the option of the sugar-maker, and when the pan is full, it 
is discharged by a valve into the strike-heater, a double-bottomed 
kettle with a sufficient amount of steam to keep the sugar warm, and 
create a certain degree of crystallization ; from this it goes into 
the moulds, or hormas, before described. 

Common Grades of Sugar. 

These moulds are then run on small railway trucks into the purg- 
ing-house, and then through the different finishing processes before 
described. The molasses that drains off in the purging-house is 
afterwards re-boiled and made into a common grade of sugar, known 
as molasses-sugar. The best molasses comes from the moscabadc 
sugar, since it nas not passed through so many purifying operations, 
and, therefore, has more saccharine matter in it. 

The sugar being thoroughly dried, sorted, and pulverized, is car- 
ried into the packing-room, where, ranged upon a slightly elevated 
irame, are the empty packing-boxes, capable of holding four hundred 
pounds each. These are filled with the loose sugar, a gang of 
negroes or coolies range themselves on each side of the rows, with 
broad, heavy packing-sticks in their hands, and thus all together they 
pound away, keeping time with their strokes, and making music with 
their voices. This seems to be a very primitive way of packing 
the sugar, taking as it does so much time ; but no other plan has 
ever been successfully tried. 

The sugar being now tightly packed in the boxes, the latter are 
closed up and strapped with narrow strips of raw hide, and are then 
shipped to market. 

The foregoing process of sugar-making differs, of course, in some 
respects, on different estates ; but the general method is the same, the 



438 SUGAR-MAKING IN CUBA. 

differences being generally due to some variation in the kind of 
machinery, — some of the manufacturers, for instance, still clinging to 
the old-fashioned method of boiling the sugar in open pans, which 
of course allows a great deal of valuable matter to escape ; others 
not going through so much of the refining process with the crop. 

In concluding this chapter, it may interest the reader to know that 
sugar-making was first tried in Cuba as far back as 1535, when a 
grant of land was made for that purpose on what is now known as 
the Cerro, near Havana, though good authorities state that it was in 
Havana itself, and at Regla, on the other side of the bay, in 1598, 
that really paying sugar estates were established. 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 
Description of Far- Famed Matanzas. 

OF all the towns in the Island of Cuba visited by travelers, 
Matanzas is the one that gives entire satisfaction to the gener- 
ality of visitors. Built with regularity and in good style, it lies 
prettily at the foot of surrounding hills, on the shore of the beautiful 
bay of Matanzas, while through its limits run two small rivers, which 
empty into the bay and serve to give additional character and beauty 
to the place. Away from the grand rush of travel that fills up Havana 
in the winter, Matanzas gets a smaller share of attention which, from 
its many attractions, it more richly merits than almost any place upoa 
the Island. 

The inhabitants are polished and hospitable, and there is great 
wealth amongst them, while the women are remarkably pretty 
(naturally). These things, with the natural beauties of the city, make 
it the pleasantest place for an invalid, or any one desiring to pass 
several months on the Island without traveling. 

Matanzas, now the second city of the Island in riches and com- 
merce, is situated at the depth of the bay of the same name, formed 
by an arm of the sea, into which empty the waters of the rivers San 
Juan and Yumuri. The city proper is bounded on the north by the 
river Yumuri, and on the south by that of San Juan, while on the 
east side are the brilliant waters of the noble bay. 

It is said that the town is built upon the sight of a former Indian 
village, known by the early discoverers by its original appellation of 
" Yucayo." Some thirty families, having emigrated from the Canary 
Isles, located themselves upon the spot, or in the neighborhood ; for 
Manzaneda, to effect a settlement, had purchased from Charles II. 
about one hundred and fifty acres of land, with the adjoining corral 
\a. cattle-field), known as Matanzas, which signifies " slaughter-pen." 

4?9 



440 FAR-FAMED MATANZAS. 

The same name is retained to-day, with the addition of those of its 
patron saints, San Severino and San Carlos. 

The above regular settlement took place on the ioth day of October, 
1693, which was on a Saturday, and on Sunday, Bishop Compostello 
arrived. On Monday, the ground having been previously marked 
out, he laid the first stone for the future church or cathedral, with the 
celebration of a grand Mass; at the same time were traced the lines 
of the castle, known as San Carlos, still standing as a fort upon the 
Punta Gorda. 

Like many of the towns of the Island, Matanzas was threatened at 
various times by attack from buccaneers and enemies, and has even 
had naval engagements off its harbor ; but its most serious loss was 
in 1845, V' nen there took place, in the month of June, a great confla- 
gration, which destroyed over two million dollars' worth of property. 

Handsome Houses and Stores. 

It is now, however, a pretty, well-built city, with a really fine 
public square — the Plaza de Armas — which is prettily laid out with 
walks, shrubbery, and flowers, with a fine statue of Ferdinand VII. 
in the centre. On the east side are the residence and offices of the 
commandante, while on the other three sides are well-built, handsome 
houses and stores, with one or two cafes, the whole having a very fine 
appearance. 

There is only one church, a large antique-looking old building, re- 
markable for nothing except the rough architectural beauties of its 
towers, particularly the taller one of the two, which has some con- 
siderable height. There is a fine new theatre, the handsomest on the 
Island ; also a number of public buildings, none of which are re- 
markable in any way. 

That portion of the town lying to the south of the river San Juan 
is known as " Pueblo Nuevo," in which is situated the railroad depot, 
and in its outskirts several beautiful country places, the river being 
crossed by well-built bridges of solid stone. On the other side of 
the river Yumuri, this portion of the town is known as Versailles, 
reaching to the very foot of the hill, known as the " Cumbre," fronj 



FAR-FAMED MATANZAS. 44i 

the summit of which is seen the beautiful valley of the Yumuri ; 
while on the hills facing the bay stand the military hospital and the 
barracks of Santa Isabel, capable of containing over fifteen hundred 
men. Close to it, on the extreme edge of the bay, is the beautiful 
paseo of Versailles, the favorite drive of the inhabitants, of an evening. 
At the end of the paseo is the small castle and fort of San Severino. 
The object of greatest attraction, however, to the passing traveler 
1 are the " Caves of Bellamar," situated to the south-east of the city, 
about two and a half miles, and reached by a very pleasant hour's 
drive, a portion of the way being by the sea-side. This trip is usually 
made in the early morning, though it is a pretty drive at any hour, 
and the caves are worth going to see several times. 

Resembling Scenes in Venice. 

Having ordered your volante (if only gentlemen are in the party, 
g f on horseback) the night previous, you will find, at six o'clock in 
the morning, waiting your coming, a two-horse volante and driver; 
for which you will be charged about six dollars and thirty-seven cents 
for the excursion. On the way out, you cross the stone bridge over 
the San Juan, known as the " Belen Bridge," and pass through the 
town beyond, known as " New Town." These rivers running 
through the city in this way give it a particularly Venetian appear- 
ance, and views taken from one or two blocks upon the river bank 
might be readily mistaken for scenes in Venice. 

In the new town there is a handsome street that the traveler should 
direct his driver to go through en route to the cave ; it is called the 
" Calzada de Esteban," and contains together, in one block, a col- 
lection of private dwelling-houses, the newest, most tasteful and beau- 
tiful seen in Cuba. The houses aie large, beautifully built, with very 
imposing and handsome pillared fronts and porticoes, generally with 
large and luxuriantly-flowering gardens, while the combination of 
iron-railing of pretty designs, with stone pillars and bases, gives a 
most charming effect. 

There will, also, be noticed here the happy use made of prettily- 
colored tiles in the formation of terraces (if we may so call them) to 



442 FAR-FAMED MATANZAS. 

the fronts of the piazzas. There is a pleasing effect to this style of 
architecture in Cuba, when, if the same style were adopted with us, 
it would be pronounced too gaudy, or ginger-bread looking ; while 
here, from the peculiar climate, where the sky is always so beautifully 
blue, and the sun brightly hot, the high colors used in architecture 
seem in harmony with those of nature. 

Leaving now the town behind us, and passing by some straggling 
houses, we come out by the side of the bay, whose emerald-green 
waters wash gently the sandy shore, and from whose blue distance 
come the cooling ocean breezes of early morning ; while across the 
bay are the verdure-clad hills that over-top the valley of lovely 
Yumuri ; the picture being completed on our right hand by green 
banks and hills, overshadowed by the tall and graceful palm, or the 
fan-like branches of the cocoanut tree. 

Entrance to the Cave. 

Turning off from the sea-side, and winding up a rugged and stony 
road, some distance up the hills, upon the top of the plateau, we come 
to the " Cave House," a large frame building erected over the entrance 
to the cave, and containing the visitors' register, as also numerous 
specimens of the crystal formations of the cave. In the centre of the 
building is the stairway leading into the entrance of the cave. 

We would advise all visitors to the cave to divest themselves of 
any superfluous clothing in the way of coats, shawls, vests, etc., which 
they can leave in charge of the attendant ; for the atmosphere inside 
is quite warm, and, with the exercise, gets to be, before coming out, 
quite oppressive. 

Well, we pay our dollar each ; the naichacho takes his one candle, 
and, following him, we descend the stairs into the cave. After a few 
paces, we cross a small wooden bridge, and find ourselves in the 
" Gothic Temple." Even in the obscure light (though in this par- 
ticular place one or two lanterns are hung up) one can see that it is 
very, very beautiful, with its millions of crystals, its thousand weird 
forms, and gloomy corners. When the candle is placed behind some 
*f the columns or projecting crystals, their transparency produces a 



FAR-FAMED MATANZAS. 443 

most lovely effect, their colors varying from the purest white to 
amber and the most tender of rose tints. 

This temple is quite two hundred feet long, and about seventy 
wide, and is about one hundred and fifty feet from the entrance of 
the cave; and while it far surpasses in richness and splendor the 
temple of the same name in the Mammoth Cave, it does not equal it 
in size or solemn grandeur, though, as far as the ease and comfort 
with which the cave is seen, it is far ahead of the Kentucky cave, as 
the proprietor has had enterprise enough to make strong bridges, 
plank walks, and, when necessary, strong iron-railings for protection 
from slipping. 

"A Dream of Fairyland." 

The Mammoth Cave leaves upon the mind an impression of 
solemn, gloomy grandeur, and one peoples it with gnomes and 
demons. This cave is a dream of fairy-land, with its sprites and 
lovely fairies keeping gay revel to soft music ; and one almost expect? 
to see shooting from the crystal shadows some lovely Undine o\ 
beauteous naiad. One becomes thus dreamy under the influences of 
the names of some of the most striking places, many of which, the 
muchacho says, " some call one thing and some another ; " for every 
pillar has its great name — as " Columbus' Mantle," and every mass is 
likened unto the " Guardian Spirit," or more sacred " Altar," while 
without the " Cloak of the Virgin " it would not be a Cuban cave. 

This " Fuente de Nieve" (fountain of snow) is one of the loveliest 
portions and most striking objects in the cave ; but it contains attrac- 
tions enough to bring one here again and again, when he can get the 
chance. The cave is thus far opened about three miles in extent, 
and its greatest depth below the surface of the earth is five hundred 
feet. It has been opened about twenty years, having been first dis- 
covered in an accidental way, by one of the workmen of Senor Don 
Manuel Santos Parga, who, while working near by, saw his lever 
sink through the hole which proved to be the entrance to the cave. 
M Who has not seen the Caves of Bellamar has not seen Cuba" 

The views of the valley of the Yumuri should by all means be 



444 FAR-FAMED MATANZAS. 

seen both at sunrise and sunset. This excursion should be made on 
horseback, by young people, as it is a beautiful road of an afternoon, 
winding up the hill, the town being left behind until it becomes only 
a confused mass of buildings in the distance; while to the right 
hand is the bay with its shipping and forts, and beyond, the hazy 
landscape ; and after a short ride, a full and splendid view of the 
ocean breaks upon you. The ascent is a steep one, though over a 
very fair road, particularly for horses, and the change in the atmos- 
phere can be noticed almost immediately after the first turn on the 
hill, while before the return at night it is quite cold, so that a shawl 
will not be amiss for lady travelers. 

The Far-famed Yumuri. 

After about an hour and a half continuous ascent, the road sud- 
denly winds around the brink of a grassy precipice, and there, spread 
out at one's feet, lies the far famed, poetically described, beautiful 
valley of the Yumuri, with its patches of green and gold, and its 
groups in twos and threes of graceful waving palm-trees, while 
meandering through its grassy banks is the little stream of Yumuri, 
looking like a silver ribband, except where, here and there, its waters 
are golden-h \ed from the setting sun ; and over all these hangs that 
air of perfect stillness — that grand, quiet solitude — which one often 
realizes amid such noble expanses of nature as this. 

All travelers are in the habit of stopping to see a sugar-house in 
the vicinity, and get a view from the top of the dwelling. One can 
get a general idea of sugar-making, though on a very small scale ; 
or he can taste the boiling guarapo (sugar-juice) from the trough, 
and, if he is consumptive, " sniff" the odors of the boiling sugar, said 
to be so beneficial to weak lungs. 

Says a traveler: "Our interview with the little black ninos was 
highly amusing. On entering the court-yard of the negro quarters, 
a dozen little black imps, of all ages and sexes and sizes, perfectly 
naked, rushed towards us, and crossing their arms upon their breasts, 
fell upon their knees before us, and jabbered and muttered, out of 
which could be distinguished, " Master, master, give us thy blessing," 



FAR-FAMED MATANZAS. 445 

which we interpreted to mean "tin;" whereupon we scattered sundry 
medios amongst them. Hey! presto! what a change! The little 
black devils fell over one another, fought, tugged, and scrambled to 
secure a prize; while any one who had been lucky enough to obtain 
a coin, marched off in a state of dignified delight, his distended little 
stomach going before him like a small beer-barrel, while the owner 
of it kept shouting out, ' Medio, yo tengo medio ' (five cents, I have five 
cents)." 

Sublime Scenery. 

There is another view of this charming valley of the Yumuri to 
the west of the town, out over the hills, known as the " Abra de 
Yumuri," or " Boca," as it is sometimes called. The view is of 
the whole valley, from the left bank of the river, with the grand, 
majestic opening in the rocks, as though they had been s mdered 
expressly to let the river through. 

From the top of the hill can be seen the picturesque towers of the 
city, and the waters of the bay, with all its shipping displayed therein 
while in the background, towards the south, are seen the distant hills 
that extend from the hill of San Juan to those of Camarioca. looking 
like blue clouds against the roseate sky. 

The livery stables of Matanzas furnish very fair teams, and the 
saddle-horses are also very good; they can be had by ordering them 
at your hotel. Ladies who are not accustomed to riding much will 
find riding the Cuban ponies a very easy affair indeed ; for their gait 
is a species of amble — what we call racking — and our fair novices in 
equestrianism pronounce it " divine." 

Securing a stylish turn-out, about six o'clock in the evening, we 
will drive down to El Paseo, which is on the extreme edge of that 
portion of the city known as Versailles, and immediately on the 
shore of the bay, whence come, morning and evening, the delightful 
sea-breezes which everybody comes down here to get. 

This paseo is a pretty drive, about half a mile long, and beyond it 
a road of about the same length to the castle. It is laid out with 
gravel-walks, rows of trees, and a stone parapet, with iron-gates at 



446 FAR-FAMED MATANZAS. 

each end of the drive ; and if the stranger wants to see the beauty 

and fashion of Matanzas, it is here that he can do so, particularly on 

Sunday afternoon — that being the great day. Quite as many elegant 

«quipages can here be seen, in proportion to the population and size 

of the place, as in Havana. 

Starting from the front gate, they drive the whole length of the 

paseo, turning at the other end and retracing their course ; and this 

they do for an hour or more at a time, until there is a perfect string 

of carriages following one another around and around. Towards 

eight o'clock, if it is the night of the retreta (always Sunday), when 

the band plays at the Plaza, most of the carriages file off to that 

square. 

Grotesque Street Scenes. 

One of the most delightful pleasures in Matanzas is that of the 
bath at the Ojo de Agna (eye of water), where, on the bank of the 
Yumuri River, some springs of pure, cool water burst forth, and 
many of the young men walk out in the fresh mornings, and get a dip. 

The reader will be interested in the following description by a 
tourist in Cuba: 

" It was our good fortune to be in Matanzas during the last three 
days of the Carnival ; and while the whole time was occupied by 
noisy processions and grotesque street masqueraders, the crowning 
ceremonies were on the last Sunday night ; then the whole town used 
every effort to wind up the season in a. feu de joie of pleasure and 
amusement. In almost every town of any importance there is an 
association of the young men, generally known as 'El Liceo,' 
organized for artistic and literary purposes, and for social recreation. 

" A fine large building is generally occupied by the association, 
with ample space for theatrical representations, balls, etc. ; in addition 
to which there are billiard-rooms, and reading-rooms, adorned, 
probably, with fine paintings. In Matanzas, this association is known 
as ' El Liceo Artistico y Literario de Matanzas,' and is a particularly 
fine one, being composed of the 6lite of the city, with a fine large 
house, to which they made an addition by purchasing the ' Club,' 
beautifully situated upon the Plaza. 



FAR-FAMED MATANZAS. 447 

" Thanks to our letter of introduction, we were, through the kind 
offices of members, permitted to enjoy the pleasures of their grand 
ball, called the ' Pihata,' which was indeed a very fine affair, attended 
by the beauty and fashion of Matanzas. The ball commenced at the 
sensible hour of eight o'clock in the evening ; and at entering, each 
one was required to give up his ticket to a committee of managers, 
who thus had a kind of general inspection of all those admitted. 

" Passing through the main hall, which was ablaze with light 
reflected from the highly colored walls and polished marble floor, we 
entered a Sala de reception — which, even at this early hour, was quite 
full, and which opened into the ball-room. Dear me, what a sight 
it was ! Such crowds of beautiful women, such pretty dresses, such 
elegant coiffures, in which, from the abundance of the raven tresses 
of the Sehoras, no ' rats ' or ' mice ' were necessary — at least, I don't 
^hink there were; but then we men are so innocent.' I do not think 
I ever saw so many beautiful women together. 

Great Array of Female Beauties. 

" The ball-room was a long, large hall, at the other end of which 
was a pretty stage, for theatrical representations ; on each side of the 
room was an arched colonnade, over which were the galleries, where 
the bands were posted. Ranged in doubled rows of chairs the full 
length of the room, in front of the colonnade, sat hundreds of dark- 
eyed angels — calm, dignified, and appearing, most of them, to be 
mere lookers-on; not a black coat among them. All of these, with 
the exception of a few courageous ones that were facing all this 
beauty, were huddled together at the other end of the room, wanting 
the courage (it could not be the inclination) to pay their respects to 
las Senoritas. 

" What is exactly the trouble in Cuba between the gentlemen and 
the ladies I have never been able quite to understand. The men are 
polished and gentlemanly, as a general thing — sufficiently intelli- 
gent, apparently ; while the ladies are dignified and pretty. And 
yet I have never seen that appearance of easy and pleasant inter- 
course between the sexes which makes our society so charming. 



448 FAR-FAMED MATANZAS. 

" I am inclined to believe that it is the fault of custom, in a great 
degree, which surrounds women in Cuba with etiquette, iron bars, 
and formality. This would seem to apply to the natives only; for 
nothing can be kinder, more friendly, and courteous than the man- 
ners of the Cuban ladies to strangers, at least, judging from what is 
seen. It may be as a lady with whom I was arguing the point said: 
' It is very different with strangers, Sefior, and particularly with the 
Americans, who are celebrated for their chivalric gallantry to ladies.' 
Now, I call that a very pretty national compliment. 

" Taking the arm of my friend, we walk up and down to see, as he 
expresses it, ' who there is to be presented to ; ' and faith, if beauty is 
to be the test, it would seem to be a hard matter to make up one's 
mind, there is so much of it ; but after a turn or two around the room, 
this form is gone through with, and one begins to feel at home and 
ready to enjoy one's self. 

" When one finds ladies (and there are numbers) who have been 
educated abroad, either in the United States or Europe, he finds them 
highly accomplished and entertaining. Several that I had the plea- 
sure of meeting on this and other occasions spoke French perfectly, 
some English, and one or two both of these in addition to their 
native tongue. 

" But let us return to the ball, which is all this time going on with 
great eclat. It opens with the advent upon the stage of a dozen or 
more young men, under the direction of a leader, in some fancy cos- 
tume very handsomely made, who, after making their bow to the 
audience, go through some novel kind of dance. The performers 
take this means of filling up the intervals of the general dance, and 
amusing the audience." 

Galops, quadrilles, and waltzes are on the programme ; but the pre- 
vailing dance here, as everywhere on the Island, is, or used to be, the 
Creole dance or waltz called " La Lanza " — a quiet, graceful dance, 
and the only one which, owing to the heat of the climate, can be en- 
joyed with any degree of comfort. The following description of the 
dance, written by a Cuban author, gives the best idea of it : 

" Though there are known and executed in the Island all the 



FAR-FAMED MATANZAS. 449 

modern dances, yet preponderating over them and eclipsing them all 
is the irresistible Danza Criolla — true Cuban specialty. It is nothing 
else than the old-fashioned Spanish contra dance, modified by the 
warm and voluptuous character of the tropical climate. Its music 
is of a peculiar style — so much so, that any one who has not heard it 
played by one already initiated in its mysteries, will attempt in vain 
to play it, though he may have it perfectly written before him. 

Pretty and Amusing Ceremony. 

"' It is now getting late, and the rooms are terribly warm ; the fans 
of the long rows of lovely sitters, who have not moved out of their 
places the whole evening, keep up a constant flutter, and one begins 
to sigh for a breath of fresh air, and relief from the discomforts of a 
full-dress suit ; but the grand affair of the evening is yet to come off, 
we are told, and so we linger on, and are finally rewarded by the 
grand ceremony of the Pinata, from which the ball takes its name. 

" This word I can hardly give the meaning of as applied to this 
ceremony, which consists in having pendant from the ceiling a form 
of ribbands and flowers, the ribbands numbered and hanging from 
^le flowers, the rights to pull which are drawn like prizes in a lottery. 
Of these ribbands, one is fastened to a beautiful crown of flowers, 
which, when the ribband to which it is attached is pulled, falls into 
the hands of the lucky person, who has then the privilege of crown- 
ing any lady he may deem worthy of the honor, ' Queen of the Ball/ 
to whom every one is obliged to yield obedience, homage, and admi- 
ration. There is, also, the same opportunity afforded to the ladies to 
crown a king. The whole ceremony is pretty, and creates much 
merriment and amusement. 

" This ceremony over, at midnight we sally out into the open air. 
But what a sight greets us there ! Lights blaze in such profusion 
that it seems more than day ; music and dancing are everywhere ; 
songs, deviltry, and mirth have taken complete possession of the 
place ; while people of all ages, sexes, and colors are mixed together, 
in what seems inextricable confusion, intent upon having a good time 
in ":he open air, while their masters and betters are doing the same 
29 



450 FAR-FAMED MATANZAS. 

thing under cover. This is a Carnival sight indeed, and only to be 
seen in a tropical climate. 

" Some one suggests that we go down to the theatre, as the fun 
only commences there after midnight ; and so we go there, passing a 
soldier or two on guard, to see a new phase of life in the form of a 
mascara, or ball of the lower class, known as the ' Curia} where peo- 
ple of all colors and sexes go who are not required to show certifi- 
cates of character (and could not do it if they were) other than a 
golden dollar, which is taken at the door. 

A Hilarious Crowd. 

" Truly it is a mob indeed — a dancing, noisy, masked mob, who, 
amidst shouts, the din of music, and the shuffling of feet, are going 
through all the figures of the danza criolla, most of which are en- 
tirely unknown to its more refined female admirers. Keep your 
hand on your pocket-book, my friend, and cover up your watch- 
chain with your coat, as you go through the crowd ; and more than 
all, don't tread on any one's toes, unless you are prepared to ' hit out' 
quickly." 

If, while at Matanzas, the traveler wishes to visit a Cuban watering- 
place — the Cuban Saratoga, in fact — it can be easily done, any day, 
by taking a ticket for Madruga. Now, unless indeed thou art an 
invalid, troubled with partial paralysis, stiffened with rheumatism, or 
suffering from some other unfortunate malady, think not of going 
there, even if thou feelest for a moment the growing influence of a 
Cuban's description of the waters and place. 

Madruga is a small village, to the south-west of Matanzas, about 
two hours' ride by railroad, and can be easily reached twice a day, 
being on the direct road to Havana, by way of the long route. 
Madruga is simply a watering-place, and as such is celebrated for its 
mineral springs, which are certainly very beneficial — and wonderful, 
if all the accounts be true that are given of them. The season 
begins for the fashionable world about the middle of April, though 
the baths are taken all the year round by the villagers and strangers. 

The hotels are not by any means first class, and are entirely dif- 



KAR-FAMED MATANZAS. 45i 

ferent from anything we are accustomed to ; but any one desiring 
particularly to try the waters, can make himself pretty comfortable. 
Though there are some inducements on the score of health that 
might tempt one to make a prolonged visit, yet we advise all those 
who have any thoughts of staying there to run down from Matanzas 
before moving their baggage, just to " look before they leap." 

The village itself is an ordinary country village, the principal part 
of it being around the Plaza, and is situated on high ground, in a 
beautiful rolling country, celebrated for being remarkably healthy. 
Its public buildings are confined to one small, neat church, in addi- 
tion to the baths, which are all public. These are the property of 
the town, having been presented to it by Don Jose O'Farrell, Gover- 
nor-General in 1820, on condition that the town should keep them in 
order and have them in charge. They are in direct charge of the 
captain of the district, and are kept in repair by the contributions ot 
the people of the village, who find it to their interest to attract 
strangers to their town. 

The baths are all more or less impregnated with sulphur, some 
iron and magnesia, and some potassa, and are said to be sovereign 
cures for rheumatism, paralysis, weakness of the stomach, scrofula, 
and some other complaints. 

The baths are very pleasant to take, the water being rather cold. 
They are taken early in the morning, and then, after the siesta, in the 
middle of the day, a glass or two of the water being drank after each 
bath. Invalids from all parts of the Island come here, and it is not 
a very pleasant sight to go into the bath-room, sometimes, and have 
the eye displeased and the mind shocked by the cases of paralysis, 
rheumatism, etc., that are there presented. 

With a jolly party, one can have a pretty good time at Madruga 
— bathing, riding on horseback, and walking to the tops of the 
neighboring hills, from which fine views may be had. The view of 
the "Valley of Glory," from the top of the hill " Cupey," is very 
fine, as are also some of the other views, and the change of tempera- 
ture from the country below is very agreeable. 

Far as the eye can reach are seen the waving fields of sugar-cane, 



452 FAR-FAMED MATANZAS. 

darkened here aiV. there by patches of woods or clumps of palms ; 
while in the foreground are the tall, white chimneys of the sugar- 
mills belching forth their black smoke. In the distance there is just 
the faintest glimpse of the hazy sea, the distant mountains and hills 
seeming to fade quite away into it. 

Mode of Conducting Funerals. 

One see3 a good deal of primitive life in a village like this, off of 
the main route of travel, and away from the " grand world " influ- 
ences. Observe the method of conducting funerals. First come the 
small boys, with white linen gowns over their clothes, short enough 
to display their ragged pants and dirty boots, the boy in the centre 
bearing a tall pole, upon the top of which is a silver cross partially 
draped, while each of the other boys carries a tall candlestick. 

Behind them comes the priest, in shabby attire, in one hand his 
prayer-book, from which he is chanting from time to time, while in 
the other hand, the sun being hot, he holds an open umbrella; behind 
him, again, comes tottering along a venerable old man, personating 
whilom the acolyth, the bell-ringer, the sacristan, or other church 
functionary, as may be necessary, and now croning cut in his dreary 
voice, as he goes swinging the burning censer, the second to the 
chants of the priest. The coffin then makes its appearance, formed 
of rough boards, but covered with black paper-muslin, and borne 
upon the shoulders of four of the villagers, a crowd of whom, all 
uncovered, bring up the rear. 

Here, as in all other Catholic countries, the spectators uncover 
their heads at the passing of the funeral cortege. At the church are 
further ceremonies of reading prayers, burning candles, and sprink- 
ling the coffin with holy water ; after which the priest goes his way, 
and the procession take up the line of march for the new-made grave 
in the dilapidated and neglected cemetery, where the coffin is depos- 
ited without further ceremony. No females are present during the 
whole affair. 

This humble funeral is a very different affair from what one could 
see in the larger cities, and particulaily Havana, with its ostentatious 



FAR-FAMED MATANZAS. 453 

display of the corpse upon a sumptuous catafalque or under a crystal 
urn, its crying and screaming women, its long line of carriages, and 
its various ceremonies, arranged and provided for by a " funeral 
agency." 

A family in mourning in Cuba not only dress in dark clothes upon 
which there is no lustre, but they keep the windows of the house 
shut for six months ; in fact, by an ordinance of the government, it is 
now prohibited to display the corpse to the public through the open 
windows, as was formerly done, both they and the doors being now 
required to be shut. 

An Attractive Village. 

The traveler can leave Madruga for Havana or Matanzas, passing 
on his way to Havana the beautiful little village of Guines, where 
many people stay during the hot season. There is no particular 
attraction here, except that the village is pretty, and the country 
around attractive, there being some pretty rides and drives, and the 
horses being very good. The road to Havana runs through a very 
beautiful country, amid lovely scenery, and is a very pleasant ride. 

Near to Matanzas, on the road to Bemba, is a very pretty little 
town, known as Limonar, one of the pleasantest places on the Island, 
and most desirable for the invalid, as the air is fresh and very invig- 
orating. From there, one can drive over to the baths of sulphur, at 
San Miguel, which, in the early spring months, are well patronized 
by the people of the district. 

From Matanzas, there are a great many pretty drives to neighbor- 
ing places, where lovely views can always be had ; and it is as much 
owing to this fact as to the pleasant society of the town that Matan- 
zas is so popular a place with the stranger. 

After Yumuri, one of the most extended and pleasing views is 
that from the Hill of Paradise, looking down into the Valley of the 
Magdalen. A picture, vast and interesting, is offered to the eye of 
the spectator by this magnificent panorama. 

Imagine a space some fifteen miles long, surrounded by hazy 
mountains, in a country slightly rolling with verdure-clad hills, which 



454 FAR-FAMED MATANZAS. 

serve as points for the eye to rest on ; graceful groups of palms and 
other trees, and the picturesque edifices of an immense number of 
ingenios ; the whole limited in the distance by the city of Matanzas — 
the bay with its shipping ; beyond which is seen the almost atmos- 
pheric sea uniting with the azure sky. 

If the traveler, being at Matanzas, desires to visit Cardenas or 
Sagua la Grande (and he will do neither, if he takes our advice, 
unless business compels him), he has the choice of two routes — by 
cars or by steamboats. This latter, however, we will not take into 
consideration — the boats being small and dirty, and irregular in their 
trips. 



CHAPTER XXXV. 
A Quaint Old Town. 

WHAT a glorious morning it is, as we come in sight of the 
superb Bay of Nuevitas ! — the very perfection of a May- 
day ; but such a May-day as few northern eyes have ever 
seen, with the brightness of the verdure, and the purity of the won- 
drous atmosphere and sky. And then the water — it is so hard to 
resist the temptation of its sparkling clearness and depth, and of its 
seductively cool appearance, and not make a dash overboard. 

Irving, in describing the feelings of Columbus on arriving off this 
very spot, says : " Columbus was struck with its magnitude and the 
grandeur of its features; its high and airy mountains, which reminded 
him of those of Sicily ; its fertile valleys, and long, sweeping plains, 
watered by noble rivers ; its stately forests, its bold promontories, 
and stretching headlands, which melted away into the remotest dis- 
tances." 

But we have entered the bay, which gradually opens out into an 
immense land-locked sheet of water. On its extreme southern side 
lies the small town of Nuevitas itself, with its few white-walled houses 
glaring in the morning sun. The bay is said to be the second one 
in size on the Island, containing within its area a space of fifty-seven 
square miles, though its depth is not very great. 

On the 14th of November, 1492, Columbus anchored in this bay, 
to which he gave the name of Puerto Principe, erecting a cross upon 
a neighboring height in token of possession, and passing a number 
of days in exploring the collection of beautiful islands in the vicinity, 
since known as " El Jardin del Rey," or the King's Garden. This, 
it is said, was the foundation of the town of Nuevitas, which was 
originally known as Santa Maria; but it was not until 15 13 that a 
permanent settlement was made under Diego Velasquez, when the 

455 



456 A QUAINT OLD TOWN. 

principal town was removed to the Indian village Caonao, and soon 
afterwards to the town of Camaguey, now known by its name of 
Puerto Principe. Nuevitas, a town of about six thousand inhabitants, 
gets its importance simply from the fact that it is the port of entry 
for the city of Puerto Principe, situated in the interior, at forty-five 
miles distance. 

As a modern town, it made its commencement in 1819, under the 
name of San Fernando de Nuevitas. It is a growing little place, and 
is becoming the depot of shipment of a good deal of the sugar and 
molasses of the neighborhood, as well as of large quantities of hides. 

Sponge and Turtle-fishing. 

There is also an interesting branch of commerce pursued here, 
though not amounting to a very large trade. This is the sponge 
and turtle-fishing, carried on by almost an entirely distinct set of 
people from those ashore. The sponges are those mostly used on 
the Island, and a rough calculation estimates the annual production 
at one hundred thousand dozen, worth one dollar per dozen, which 
is quite a business for a people who carry it on as they do. 

The turtle-shell is prepared usually for export, the meat being sent 
to the markets of the vicinity in which the turtles are caught. It is 
quite an amusing sight to see the habitations of these people, dotting 
some portions of the bay, and, as it is almost perpetual summer, their 
life is not a very unpleasant one. 

Puerto Principe is connected with Nuevitas by a railroad forty-five 
miles long, and is, probably, the oldest, quaintest town on the Island 
—in fact, it may be said to be a finished town, as the world has gone 
on so fast that the place seems a million years old, and, from its style 
of dress, a visitor might think he was put back almost to the days of 
Colon. 

The road to the town runs through a fine, rolling country, afford- 
ing many beautiful views, and, from the hills around the place itself, 
not only the town, but the neighboring country, can be seen to 
advantage. But may heaven help you, O stranger ! if you wander 
to Puerto Principe without having some friends to depend upon ; foi 



A QUAINT OLD TOWN. 467 

it is sadly deficient in hotels. It is, probably, for this reason that the 
Cubans, as a people, are so hospitable that they will not allow theii 
friends to go to hotels, and even to strangers who have been pre* 
sented to them they insist on showing this attention. 

Lest we be misunderstood in relation to this matter, we wish to 
say that it is the custom in Cuba for one friend visiting the town of 
another friend to stay with him at his house, the kindness being re- 
turned as occasion demands ; and no one having the slightest claim 
to a courtesy of this kind need hesitate to accept it, either on the 
plantations or in the interior towns. This can be done without fear 
of disturbing the hospitable household of the host, for he gives you 
what he has himself, and, as a general thing, every one in Cuba lives 
in a free, open-handed way, with abundance of rooms, servants, and 
an extremely profuse table. 

Cuban Hospitality. 

In many cases, too, it is as much a kindness to the giver of the 
invitation to accept it as for him to extend it, for the simple reason 
^.hat there is not much travel or intercourse on the Island, and the 
stranger, whether from some other part of the Island or from abroad, 
has news to impart, a novelty to give, or business to transact with his 
host. The stranger may be sure the courtesy is sincere when ex- 
tended with, " Frankly, Seilor, I wish you to stay with me, and I 
shall order your baggage to my house." 

Santa Maria del Puerto Principe is situated in the heart of the 
grazing country, from which business it derives its importance. Its 
streets are narrow and tortuous, many of them entirely unpaved and 
without sidewalks ; its buildings comprise several queer old churches, 
various convents, large quarters for the troops, a tolerable theatre, 
and a fine lot of public buildings for government officers. The gene- 
ral style of architecture, though Cuban, offers many peculiarities to 
the artist or antiquarian. 

This town has always been looked upon with suspicion by the au- 
thorities on account of the strong proclivities its people had for insur- 
rection ; and its sons have had a greater or smaller share in almost 



458 A QUAINT OLD TOWN. 

every revolution that has taken place in the Island. It has received 
its baptism of blood in the cause of liberty for " free Cuba," having 
sustained a siege, been attacked, and almost starved out. 

Although there is not much in the actual town to occupy the trav- 
eler, the surrounding country affords fine opportunities for studying 
some peculiarities of the Island not so advantageously seen elsewhere 
as here. First among these are \he potreros. 

Potrero, in the Ctstilian, really means a horse-herd, a pasture-farm; 
but in the Cuban dialect, it has a somewhat different meaning. In 
the early days of Cuba when land was plenty and the government 
liberal in the disposition of it, they called all grounds or properties, 
whether belonging to the crown or to private persons, used for the 
purpose of sheep-folds or cattle herding, haciendas or hatos. 

A Cuban Stock-farm. 

These were large extents of ground, of circular form, with a radius 
of over nine thousand yards, the centre of which only was marked 
out, where the pens and buildings were usually erected. The corral 
was also a circular tract, one quarter the above size, that is to say, 
with a radius of four thousand five hundred yards, intended for the 
care of smaller cattle, sheep, pigs, etc. its centre being also marked 
by the hog-pen, or the fences of the sheep-folds. 

Owing to the difficulty of always laying out the exact lines 
(caused by the location of woods), the surveyors adopted the method 
of describing polygons, with a large number of sides, each of which 
was equivalent to so many yards. The spaces left between these 
polygons, almost circular, were considered as the property of the 
crown, and were known as realengos. 

But as time advanced, and the government kept on increasing these 
gifts, without any particular reference to the line of demarcation in 
the land, many centres of the new farms or folds were fixed in such 
a manner that, in drawing their boundary-lines according to their 
radii, they cut those already established, one new circle falling within 
an old one, creating thereby inextricable confusion, which ended in 
every man going to law with his neighbor about the boundary-lines; 



A QUAINT OLD TO\VN. 459 

and from this came the belief that ev2ry Cuban had a farm and a 
lawsuit. 

Many of these tracts were then, by the decision of the court 
divided, and afterwards, by the will of their owners, sub-divided into 
small lots, appropriated for the various uses of cultivating grain, 
raising cattle and fruits, while others were again cut up and laid out 
in town lots. Out of these divisions came all the different rural 
establishments known as cattle farms, farms proper, and small truck- 
gardens, and which, under various names, bother the stranger or the 
student of Cuban life. 

The largest of all the above is the potrero, where cattle are raised, 
fed, and looked after with care ; while in the con-ales they are left to 
run wild in every direction, getting water from the running brooks, 
and only attended to, from time to time, by the keepers. But the 
potreros are large places, encircled by walls of stone piled up, or 
stone-fences. Not only the cattle of the place are taken care of, but 
those also belonging to neighboring ingenios, or farms, are fed and 
attended to. 

The raising of cattle is a very profitable business indeed, particu- 
larly as no attention is paid to the fattening of beef, but the cattle 
are sold just as they are thought to be fit for market. The con- 
sequence is, that it is rare indeed that a piece of beef fit to roast is 
seen — at least as we know it. 

It is a great sight to see these immense herds of cattle, scattered 
over extensive plains, with here and there large clumps of palm or 
cocoa trees affording shade, while, at regular intervals, long stone 
walls serve to separate the herds. Many of the fiercest bulls used in 
the bull-ring come from this district ; and when so noted upon the 
play-bills, an audience is sure to be attracted by the superior " sport " 
they offer. 

Valuing the cattle at the lowest prices, and calculating from various 
reports as to the number of such on the Island, it is estimated there 
is represented, by the stock of these cattle-places and at the sugar 
and coffee estates and smaller farms, a capital of twenty-one millions 
of dollars. This is exclusive of horses and mules, too, of whick 



460 A QUAINT OLD TOWN. 

there are large numbers raised upon the Island, the value of which u 
estimated at two millions of dollars. 

At one time, camels were introduced into the Island, in the hope 
that they would answer the purposes of transportation ; but they did 
not do well, for, strange to say, the smallest insect, the nigua, that 
buries itself in the feet and there procreates, utterly ruined all of them. 

At almost all of these places, the beef is cured by putting it, salted, 
in the sun, and it then is known as tasajo (jerked beef) ; and prepared 
in this way, it will keep for two or three weeks, being used princi- 
pally for home consumption, that which is prepared for market 
requiring more curing. This is the great article of food amongst the 
masses of the population, and is found sometimes even upon the 
table of the better class, when no strangers are present. Large 
quantities of the hides of the cattle are exported, while the bones 
are made into "bone-black," of which immense quantities at* 
required by the sugar manufacture of the Island. 

Unique Breed of Horses. 

From Puerto Principe come, also, some of the finest horses raised 
on the Island. The Cuban horse is not supposed to be a native 
either of the Island or of these climes — in fact, if we believe the 
accounts of the early discoverers, the animal was not known upon 
diis continent; for, in every case when the natives first saw a horse, 
they were struck dumb with astonishment, showing that they had 
never seen one before. 

It is, therefore, suspected that the Cuban horse of to-day, peculiar 
breed as it is, is simply the result of some of the Spanish stock trans- 
ferred to the Island and affected by the peculiarities of the climate in 
its breeding. At all events, it is a fine animal now, with a short, 
stout, well-built body, neat, clear limbs, fine, intelligent eyes, with a 
gait for long journeys under the saddle not to be surpassed. These 
horses have sturdy necks, heavy manes, and thick tails, and, seen on 
the plains, where they are raised, and before being handled and 
dressed, they present a very rough and wild appearance. Their gait 
is something peculiar, it would seem, to themselves; and on a well- 



A QUAINT OLD TOWN. 46i 

broken horse the greatest novice in the art of riding need not hesitate 
to mount. 

The marcha, or fast walk, is simply the easiest gate in the way of 
a walk; and el paso, or the rapid gait of the horse, is something like 
the movement of our pacing horses, or, as they call it in the Southern 
States, a single-footed rack, only it is a great deal more easy. Some 
of the horses have a movement so gentle that a rider can carry a full 
glass of water without spilling. It is for this reason that the Cuban 
horses are so much admired by lady travelers fond of horseback 
riding, for they can ride miles and miles without experiencing the 
slightest fatigue. 

If we were to tell all the wonderful stories about the performances 
of these horses, the reader would be incredulous ; but this we can 
say, that, day after day, the Cuban horse will journey from forty-five 
to sixty miles without showing the slightest sign of giving out, and 
on forced rides, seventy to eighty miles is no unusual occurrence. 

Plaited Tails and Fancy Ribbands. 

The price varies, according to circumstances, and it is amusing to 
see with what care those owned by wealthy people are created. 
Owing to the sticky nature of the mud of the country roads, it has 
been the custom to plait the tails of all the horses (the end being- 
fastened to a ring in the cantle of the saddle), and to crop the manes. 
But in the cities, especially, is great display made in plaiting the tail 
with fancy ribbands, and the mane is trimmed with mathematical pre- 
cision. 

Judging from experience, we should say that all Cuban horses were 
good, even-tempered animals. The Cubans explain this by saying 
that the horse is one of the family, as in town he is kept in some por- 
tion of the patio, usually near the kitchen, and in the country he is 
treated with even more familiarity. 

One of the first things in a Cuban house that strikes the stranger 
with its novelty is the guava with cheese, which may mean either 
guava jelly or marmalade; and from this universal custom, one wishes 
to know what is this guava they make so much use of; and as Puerto 



462 A QUAINT OLD TOWN. 

Principe is a place noted for its manufacture, we will give here a de- 
scription of it. 

In some of the towns of Cuba, such as Trinidad, Santiago de Cuba, 
and Puerto Principe there is a class of women remarkable for their 
beauty, whose race it would be hard for the stranger to tell, with any 
degree of certainty — some appearing even lighter in color than Cubans ; 
others, again, like the far-famed octaroons of Louisiana ; and still 
others, of the light mulatto order — all resembling each other, how- 
ever, in the wonderful blackness and brilliancy of their eyes, the jet of 
their hair, and a certain indescribable grace of outline and movement 
of figure, having in it a dash of that voluptuous languor that we 
believe peculiar to the Orient. 

Makers of Sweetmeats. 

Who they are, and what their fathers and mothers have been, it 
would be hard to say. Some of them, however, claim to have 
" gentle ^lood " running in their veins, and, if appearances are worth 
anything, with good reason. Be that as it may, they are the seam- 
stresses, v^ry often the lady's maids, but more frequently the manu- 
facturers of the delicious preserve known as "Ja/ea" and "Pasta de 
Guayaba." 

The duke or sweetmeat of guava, then, is of two kinds, — the jelly, 
a pure, translucent, garnet-colored substance, similar to our currant- 
jelly ; and the marmalade, an opaque, soft substance, similar to good 
quince marmalade, and of about the same color, or darker. 

Both o{ these are made from the same fruit, though prepared in a 
different way ; and there are also two kinds of the fruit, — one known 
as the guayaba del Peru, which is very scarce, and the other, guayabas 
cotorreras, the common red apple-bearing tree, which is the one most 
found in Cuba ; the fruit of the former being of a greenish color in 
the inside, while that of the latter is either red, yellow, or white. 

The r ruit is small and edible, having a fragrant but peculiar odor, 
and a sweetish taste ; and the making of the jelly is an extremely 
simple operation, as follows : The fruit is cut in halves, and separated 
from the seeds; then gently stewed ; then the sugar, thoroughly boiled 



A QUAINT OLD TOWN. 463 

to a syrup, is cleared. The guava is now strained through a bag, 
and the juice only being united with the syrup, it is all boiled until 
it reaches a proper state of consistency, when it is taken out, put 
into moulds of the different-sized boxes required, and allowed to cool 
and get firm, when it is placed in long, shallow boxes of various 
sizes, lined with paper, then closed up, papered to keep out the air, 
and labeled for market. 

A Rare Delicacy. 

The paste is made in the same way, except that only the seeds are 
taken out, and the whole fruit incorporated with the syrup is used to 
make the marmalade, which by many is considered the richer for that 
reason. To any who have ever tasted the guava jelly it needs no 
recommendation ; but to those who have not, and who wish a " new 
sensation," we advise them to try it, being careful, however, to buy 
the small, flat boxes, which are the best, the round boxes usually 
being filled with very poor stuff. Large quantities of this sweet- 
meat are exported each year, and there are many manufactories of it 
in Havana ; the best, however, comes from Puerto Principe and 
Trinidad. 

Hot as it may be in Cuba, there is some way of keeping cool. 
You can get up in the morning, when the breeze is always fresh and 
strong, transact your business, and return to your breakfast, where, 
in some sweet-si elling, flowered court-yard, you can, by keeping 
quiet, and, with the aid of refreshing drinks, keep cool. The after- 
noons bring the delicious sea-breeze, that carries with it new life for 
the paseo, or the music in the evening. But your landlady cautions 
you, as you sit in your room, looking out upon the blue sea, where 
lies, far away, your northern home, " Not to make any noise." You 
ask: "Why?" 

" Because there is a poor, sick stranger in the next room/* 

" Is he very sick ? " 

" Yes, but he will go away in a day or two." 

" What's the matter with him ? " 

" He has a very bad case of yellow fevei." 



464 A QUAINT OLD TOWN. 

Notwithstanding you are told that you arc not a fit subject for 
the fever — that there is no danger, you think it just as well to antici- 
pate your neighbor's departure, particularly as Havana is no longer 
the gay place it was early in the winter. The opera season is over, 
"he circus is closed, and even the bull-fights offer no attraction. The 
Aotels, where once during the past months it was a hard matter to get 
lodging-room, are now dull and deserted, and the long, gaunt faces 
and bearded chins of Americans are no longer seen in the cool pre- 
cincts of the Louvre, sipping their cobblers or cold rum-punches. 



CHAPTER XXXVI. 
Here and There in Cuba. 

IF the traveler in Cuba desires to see its most beautiful portions, 
and also some of its prettiest, quietest towns, he will do well to 
make a trip along the south coast, from Batabano to Santiago 
de Cuba, stopping at Trinidad, and, if he likes, taking the steamer at 
Santiago home to the States. Or if he desires to visit the British 
West Indies, he can do so by means of the French steamers running 
from that place. 

The trip is a very enjoyable one, even for ladies, the boats are large 
and fine, and the accommodations on board them excellent ; the voy- 
age is as pleasant and beautiful as a summer trip on the Hudson, or 
as a sail on Lake George, the sea being generally as calm as a lake 
With a good party and plenty oflight reading it is as agreeable a trip 
as can be taken. 

Leaving Havana at 5.45 hi the morning, the traveler reaches 
Batabano at 8 o'clock, and goes immediately on board one of the 
steamers lying at the wharf; and he should immediately see the 
cabin-boy and make his choice of a stateroom, which should always 
be taken in the upper cabin, if one can get it there. An eye after 
one's baggage will not be amiss now, for they do sometimes make 
mistakes. 

And now we are afloat and have time to look about us, and we 
already feel quite at home from finding the boat and machinery are 
" Yankee notions," being made either in New York or Philadelphia, 
while the cheerful looks and courteous manners of the passengers 
demonstrate that we are in good company. Acquaintance will be 
easy if the traveler is able to speak any Spanish ; if not, all he has to 
do is to look pleasant, like the rest of the people, and watch his 
rhance of finding some one who speaks English, and who will be 
:;o 465 



466 HERE AND THERE IN CUBA. 

delighted to explain to the stranger, in his own tongue, the beauties 
of the Cuban shore. 

Ten o'clock, and there goes the breakfast bell. No hurry, gentle- 
men, everybody is provided for, and there is none of that scrambling 
and struggling for a seat at the table, so disgraceful to us Americans 
on our boats ; no, everything here is quiet and orderly, and ladies go 
leisurely to their table in the upper cabin, and the men to theirs 
arranged in a cool place on the main deck. 

Now you will want your Spanish bill of fare, for the table is boun- 
tifully supplied with the best of food cooked in the best Spanish 
fashion, while there is an ample supply of ice and vino Catalan to wash 
it down with ; don't hurry, either, my friend, these people don't pro- 
pose to make a labor of what should always be a pleasure. 

Bold Coast and Rocky Islands. 

The coast for some distance after leaving Batabano is quite low, 
and generally marshy ; but, on nearing Cienfuegos, it gets higher and 
even mountainous. To the right, some distance from the coast, and 
inside of which the steamer always keeps on her passage, are low 
keys or rocky islets, known as Los Jardines, and likely to prove very 
dangerous to the navigator, if not acquainted with their locality. 

Many of the passengers, after breakfast, seat themselves at a table 
with the game called " Loto,"at which they all gamble more or less. 
Even the chambermaid is a party to the gambling speculation, for 
she goes about the boat offering you a ticket in a raffle for a gold 
watch, or something else, and finding as many purchasers among the 
ladies as among the men. And so the day slips round, and we have 
the beauties of a moonlight night in a tropic sea, which add vastly 
to our pleasure before turning in for the night into our cane-bo'lomed 
berth, over which is simply thrown a sheet — a capital idaa Tor boats 
in warm weather, for such beds, being cool and quite elastic, are most 
comfortable. 

We arrive off the harbor of Cienfuegos som^ time during the 
night, but as vessels are not allowed to enter any of the ports of the 
Island at night, particularly during war times, we have to wait until 



HERE AND THERE IN CUBA. 467 

daybreak, when we get under weigh and enter that beautiful port by 
the light of the rising sun. The bay is a very extensive one, the en- 
trance itself being quite narrow, with a lighthouse on the extreme 
point, and stone forts upon the adjacent hills at the mouth, none of 
which appear to be very strong. 

Anchorage for Large Vessels, 

The bay has anchorage for vessels of the largest class, while the 
high hills that surround it afford ample shelter from any stormy winds 
that may blow. It was this bay that Columbus visited on his first 
voyage, and Padre las Casas, in speaking of it, calls it the most mag- 
nificent port in the world, comprising within its shores six square 
leagues. Herrera, also, describing the port and bay of Cienfuegos, 
as seen by Ocampo in a voyage round the Island, says : " There was 
Ocampo very much at his ease, well served by the Indians with an 
infinite number of partridges, like those of Castile, except some- 
what smaller. He had also abundance of fish {lizas, skate). They 
took them from this natural fish-pond, where there were millions 
of them just as safe as if they were in a tank attached to one's 
home." 

The steamer reaches the wharf about six o'clock, and, as she re- 
mains until eleven, the traveler has ample time to go ashore and see 
the town or try the excellent oysters, of which they have large quan- 
tities. Probably no place on the Island offers greater advantages for 
seeing sugar-making in its most favorable aspects than Cienfuegos, as 
it is surrounded by an immense cane-growing district, with some of 
the best estates on the Island. 

Still, keeping close to the coast, we begin to see some of its moun- 
tainous beauties ; for, sailing within a mile or two of the shore, we 
have a constantly changing panorama of green hills, that come down 
to the very water's edge, while, in the distance, they stretch away 
until some of their tops appear to be holding up the heavens. 

We know not if Tennyson was ever in the tropics in person, but 
he must have been there in mind when he wrote, as though filled 
with their ardor : 



t68 HERE AND THERE IN CUBA. 

'•Oh, hundred shores of happy climes, 

How swiftly streamed ye by the bark ! 
At times the whole sea burned ; at times, 

With wakes of fire we tore the dark ; 
At times a craven craft would shoot 

From heavens hid in fairy bowers, 
With naked limbs and flowers and fruit, 

But we nor paused for fruits nor flowers." 

Bieaking in upon our romantic musings comes the sound of the 
hand-bell, and we wonder what it can be for. Our late breakfast was 
over only an hour or so ago. It cannot be anything to eat ; no, 
innocents, it is only something to drink, in the shape of frescos, 
which may be made either of lemons or oranges, placed nice and 
cold, in large pitchers, for you to help yourself to at discretion. 

Small Hands and Ruby Lips. 
It is an attractive sight to see these pretty Cuban women sipping 
their frescos, holding the glasses to their ruby lips with the smallest 
hands imaginable; while, perhaps, peeping out from beneath their 
dresses, are the tiny feet for which they are celebrated, evidently 
never intended by nature to walk on. " To be sure " (we think we 
hear some uncharitable lady reader say), " if I made as little use of 
my hands and feet as they do, I could have such trifling appendages." 
Nevertheless, they are very pretty, and we think most of the 
Senoritas are positively aware of the fact, from the way they display 

them. 

About four o'clock in the afternoon, we arrive in sight of those 
high and beautiful mountains of Trinidad, a continuation and part of 
the range which we have been seeing all day, known as the " Guana- 
huya;" and, at last, we see Trinidad — beautiful Trinidad — on this 
balmy south coast, which, seen from some distance out at sea, looks, 
as it lies far up the mountain side, its white walls glistening in the 
golden light, like a babe nestling on its mother's breast. It takes 
some time to get up to its port, for in front of the bay there is a large 
narrow point of land, which, with the main land, forms the bay and 
port of Casilda. 



HERE AND THERE IN CUBA. 409 

Reaching this, we steam around the point, and then, retracing our 
course in the direction from which we have come, we see, upon the 
shore of this beautiful bay, the little village of Casilda, which is the 
port of entrance for Trinidad. There are two other ports of entrance, 
though not in use— that of " La Boca," to the south-west, where 
empties the river Tayabo, and that of the river Muse, to the south- 
east. 

The anchorage in the bay is not a very good one, as the water is 
so shallow that it necessitates the loading of vessels by lighters, 
unless they happen to be quite small. The town has quite an ex- 
tensive series of wharves and warehouses, the principal portion of the 
shipping business being done down here, though the town itself is a 
straggling village, with a few large warehouses and the depot of the 
railroad which connects it with Trinidad. 

A Hotel in Trinidad. 

If the traveler can find a volante, we would advise him to take 
that and ride up, unless the cars are ready to start, for sometimes 
there is a delay of several hours after the arrival of the boat, before 
the train gets off, and as the distance is only three miles, over a good 
road, with beautiful views, it is quite as pleasant to go in a volante as 
in the cars, though somewhat more expensive. It is an ascent all 
the way. 

One is not very greatly struck with the appearance of the town of 
Trinidad upon getting out at the depot, for the streets lying immedi- 
ately in its neighborhood are anything but attractive, though they 
are rather antique and rugged, looking as if you had come to soma 
third-rate village. 

One has to look out now for his own baggage, engaging a cart to 
carry it, and seeing himself that it is put upon the cart, which is then 
driven to the designated hotel. Generally there is not much choice 
of hotels in Trinidad, and the best way is to examine all of them that 
are tolerable enough to go to, before deciding. 

Says a traveler, speaking of a large boarding-house : " Our first 
experience there was very amusing. After securing our room, we 



470 HERE AND THERE IN CUBA. 

ordered the waiter to provide us a dinner, hot, good, and as quickly 
as possible, which instructions were received with a frequent ' Si, 
Se or, warm and quickly, Senor.' A few minutes finds us seated at 
table, and prepared to enjoy the said dinner. 

"'Serve the soup, waiter.' 

'"There is none, Senor; there is theatre to-night, sir.' 

" We try the fish. ' Why, confound it, this fish is as cold as a stone.' 

"' Yes, Senor, do you go to the theatre to-night?' 

" ' Hang the theatre, we want dinner! What else have you ?' 

" ' Salad and meat, Seilor.' 

" We try the oil ; it is bad. The meat turns out to be pork. Wfe 
are hungrily, furiously angry by this time, and, jumping up from the 
table, we ask if we can have a dinner or not. 

" ' But, Senor, I am going to the theatre to-night \ are you not 
going?' 

"'Hang the theatre!' we roared, thinking the man was crazy, 
' bring out our baggage and (in a theatrical manner) we will go 
hence.' 

"Waiter (humbly, but sullenly): 'If the gentlemen will wait I will 
warm the fish, and give them some good oil. I have some most 
splendid boiled ham, with some fine fruit ; and if the gentlemen will 
have patience till to-morrow, they shall live like lords.' 

" We relent, having no other place to go to, and make a tolerably 
fair meal, but the climax was reached next morning, when, having 
had an elegant breakfast, at which mine host was present, I remarked 
to him, ' We are glad to see that you do have good meals here some- 
times ; our dinner of yesterday was a disgrace to your house, sir.' 

" ' Yes,' he replied, very coolly, ' I know it was, it was that boy's 
fault (pointing to the waiter); he wanted to go to the theatre on a 
free ticket.' 

" The waiter makes some deprecatory remark. 

" ' You lie, scoundrel,' said the old man, with much vim, ' I heard 
you.' 

"'Why, where were you?' I asked, rather astonished that, as he 
had heard the row, he had not made his appearance. 



HERE AND THERE IN CUBA. 471 

"' In the room there, lying down.' 

Well, why did you not come out and attend to your guests ?' 

"'No vaha la pcna' (it wasn't worth while), in a perfectly innocent 
manner ; ' the boy wanted to go to the theatre.' " 

Trinidad de Cuba is a pretty, rambling, hilly town, of about fifteen 
thousand inhabitants, situated on the side of the mountain of the Vijia 
(watch tower), and elevated about four hundred feet above the level 
of the sea, from which it is distant some six miles, and from Havana, 
by land, about two hundred and seventy miles. 

A Fertile Country with Grand Scenery. 

Exposed to the combined breezes of sea and mountain, with a most 
delicious climate, it is reputed to be the healthiest town upon the 
Island, while, from its beautiful situation in a rich and fertile country, 
its exquisitely grand and extended views, the beauty of its lovely 
maidens, and the general hospitality of its inhabitants, it would be, 
were there only a good hotel, the most attractive town upon the 
Island for the sojourn of the invalid traveler. Here one can find 
quiet, kindness, and every inducement for taking pleasant exercise in 
the way of walks, rides and drives. 

Historically, we don't know that it has much to interest the general 
traveler, and yet it was here that that " gay Lothario," gallant adven- 
turer, and sagacious but cruel conqueror, Hernan Cortez, came 
after parting with his uncertain employer and governor, Velasquez, 
of whom he took " French leave," with all the vessels and men fitted 
out for the conquest of Mexico ; here it was, too, that he added 
means and men to that same expedition, the history of which seems, 
at the present reading, like some wondrous fairy tale. 

Trinidad is also one of the oldest towns on the Island, having be. Q n 
settled by Diego Velasquez in 1 5 13, and suffered in its earlier days, 
like many other Cuban towns, from various attacks of pirates and 
enemies, one of which was made, in 1702, by the English corsair 
Grant, who, with three hundred men, invaded the town, and made 
good his retreat, without suffering for his intrepidity. The bay of 
Casilda is also famous as being the battle-ground of three British 



472 HERE AND THERE IN CUBA. 

unen-oi-war with the Spaniards, under Don Luis Bassecourt, whose 
command consisted of militia and a few veteran pickets ; but the 
English were compelled, notwithstanding, to withdraw after three 
days' fighting. 

The streets of the city are, with some exceptions, narrow and tor- 
tuous, and many of those upon the edge of the town entirely unpaved, 
while the houses in the best streets are generally comfortable, well- 
built, stone houses, some of which are really magnificent private 
edifices. 

Peculiarities of the Houses. 

The houses of Trinidad differ from those in Havana in not having 
dividing walls to separate the dining room and the saloon, but in 
their place they have, generally, open stone arches, which, while sepa- 
rating the apartments in some degree, yet add to their beauty and 
comfort by permitting a free circulation of air and affording a charm- 
ing prospective of marble floors, mirrored arches, and richly fur- 
nished rooms. Some of the streets are quite odd in their appear- 
ance, with their rough tiled houses, their narrow pavements, and the 
funny names which are seen, just as in Havana, stuck up over the 
store doors. 

The " Campo de Marte " is a fine large place at the southeast end 
of the town, with barracks and drill-grounds for the troops. But the 
plaza, par excellence, of Trinidad, and in fact of all Cuba, for it is cer- 
tainly a most gracefully beautiful square, is known as the " Plaza de 
Carillo," situated nearly in the centre of the town, and opposite 
which is the governor's house. 

The square is most beautifully laid out, with vines and shrubbery 
shading the stone walks, on either side of which is a profusion of 
flowers, while in the centre of the square there is erected a graceful 
dome-like arbor, completely covered with flowering vines. Extend- 
ing around the square is a broad stone paseo, which is separated 
from the main garden by a tasty iron railing, and from the street by a 
stone base. A profusion of gas-lights are ranged at intervals around 
the square, which at night, when illuminated, have a most beautiful 
effect 



H ^RE AND THERE IN CUBA. 473 

The square i3 ilways open, but the retrcta is only about three 
times a week, one of those times being Sunday. On such occasion.', 
the plaza is brilliantly lighted, and the music, the soft breezes, and 
the delicious fragrance of the flowers, are enjoyed by throngs of" fair 
women and brave men." The Vijia is probably the greatest attrac- 
tion to the town proper, for no matter how often we go up, there is 
always some new beauty discovered, either in land, or sea, or sky. 
It is very easily reached on horseback, to its very top ; is a pleasant 
walk before breakfast, or can be easily gained by elderly people in a 
volante, which can go nearly to the top. No one, however, can be 
said to have seen La Vijia who has not visited it both at sunrise and 
sunset; let us try it. 

Scene of Wonderful Beauty. 

It is a fine bracing morning, and, having had our bath and coffee, 
we sally out at the door of our hotel, and find in the dusky morning 
(it is not yet daybreak) our horses, ordered the previous evening, 
awaiting our coming ; they are not " much," but they will do to carry 
us up the hill. So, mounting, we wind through various streets of the 
upper town, and come out at last by the rustic road leading past the 
military hospital, which is about half-way up the mountain. 

Leaving these below us, we strike a rough, steep road, ascending 
which we get far above the town, and begin to take in something of 
the vast scene, which at this early hour of the morning is somewhat 
indistinct. Higher and higher we go at a slow pace, until at last we 
reach the top, where is a small house or hut in which lives the signal- 
man, and in front of which is the mast where signals are made to the 
town below, of any approaching vessels. Here we leave our horses, 
and on foot proceed by a path leading beyond the house, that takes 
us to the very summit. 

What a scene bursts upon us here! We seem to be on a high 
point, around which are vast seas of mist and vapor, that, floating far 
below us, look like grand lakes, while some, not so distant, are yet 
more opaque, resembling solid fields of cotton ; but now over the 
distant eastern hills, the first rays of the rising sun begin to shed 



474 HERE AND THERE IN CUBA. 

their light, and, gradually getting higher and higher, the orb of day 
rises, in all its magnificence of blazing golden glory, over the top of 
the neighboring mountain. 

The scene now rapidly changes, the vast bodies of vapor that hung 
like a pall over the whole face of the lower valley, are now rapidly dis- 
solved by the warm rays of the risen sun, and then we have unfolded 
to our astonished vision, piece by piece, the loveliest bits of hill and 
dale, of fields of waving cane, as bright and green as the emerald 
water of the ocean itself. The neighboring hills, too, in their glitter- 
ing and verdure-clad robes, deign to appear, one by one, gorgeously 
gilded by the morning sun. 

Turning to the south we have the town and the country between 
it and the sea clearly defined, while beyond is the sea itself extend- 
ing its blue waters until lost in the hazy clouds of the distant heavens ; 
and this scene is not the same with every morning, for there is always 
some difference of light and atmosphere that gives a changing beauty 
to the views. 

Magnificent Sunset View. 

The scene is changed ; it is now the evening hour of sunset, and 
seated upon the rocks we gaze at the same scenes in a different light. 
Everything is quiet and peaceful — not a sound is heard from the 
great world below. We see the people moving like mere specks in 
the streets of the town — even the trains of cars, winding swiftly over 
the long black trail, look like small boxes endowed with some super- 
natural power of motion, for we hear no noise of engines. 

We look up the valley, and from clumps of green foliage shoot up 
here and there the tall white chimneys of the sugar mills, puffing out 
their black smoke, which rises in clouds, higher and higher until it 
vanishes away into air; the little stream that wanders between its 
wooded banks looks, as we catch a glimpse of it here and there, like 
a silver ribband. And then the sea, too, as blue as blue can be, with 
not a perceptible ripple on its surface, but quiet as a lake, while a 
white sail here and there seems to make a boundary between sea and 
sky, which iatter is assuming all those beautiful golden crimson tints 



HERE AND THERE IN CUBA. 475 

peculiar to a tropical sunset, and yet so beautifully graduated one 
into the other that it is hard to say where the blue leaves off and the 
gold and grander tints begin. 

But hark, even now there is a sound — a quiet soft musical sound — 
that comes stealing up the valley as the sun is slowly going down, 
and which truly harmonizes with the scene, — the vesper bell. How 
apropos the lines of Byron to such a scene, and such an hour as this: 

" Sweet hour of twilight ! 
Soft hour which wakes the wish and melts the heart 
Of those who sail the seas, on the first day 
When they from their sweet friends are torn apart ; 
Or, fills with love the pilgrim on his way, 
As the far bell of vesper makes him start, 
Seeming to weep the dying day's decay. 
Is this a fancy which our reason scorns ? 
Ah ! surely nothing dies but something mourns.'' 

There, far down in these peaceful valleys, that look so calm and 
still, and which even seem to fill one's breast with prophetic sadness, 
have taken place some sharp, fierce struggles — where a little band of 
patriots, badly armed and equipped, but with stout hearts, in a good 
cause, have essayed to plant firmly the flag of freedom. Now for- 
ward, now backward, sometimes in good success up to the very foot 
of the hill of Trinidad they have pressed, and yet again been forced 
back amidst the shades of these palmy groves, or the shelter of the 
waving cane. These grand old hills have witnessed horrid deeds of 
cruelty in the beautiful plains below, which rival in brutality and 
bloodthirstiness any that the page of history yet can show. 

On the other side of the valley, the highest peak which the 
traveler is able to see, and one whose top is frequently hidden in 
fleecy clouds, is the " Pico de Potrerillo," one of the highest moun- 
tains in Cuba, being some three thousand odd feet above the level 
of the sea. It is said that the view from there is even more grand 
and extensive than that from the Vijia, but it is a long ride, and 
involves the necessity of staying in its neighborhood over night. 

The drive to the " Loma del Puerto " is a very beautiful one that 



476 HERE AND THERE IN CUBA. 

should be taken by every traveler at Trinidad, presenting, as it does, 
grand and beautiful views of the hill " Del Puerto " and a portion of 
the valley. 

This valley is said to be the most beautiful of the Island seen from 
this side, as there one sees the beautiful perspective of mountains^ 
that rise to good height at the depth of the valley, and towering 
above which is seen che " Pico de Potrerillo." Within the bound- 
aries of the valley there are no less than fifty ingenios, some of them 
of the finest class. It is watered by a number of beautiful streams, 
two of which, the Ay and the Agabama, unite and form the river Ma- 
nati, which empties into the sea to the east of Casilda, and which is 
navigable some seven miles, and by which the planters send their 
sugar and molasses to the shipping points. 

Mineral Springs. 

In this same river of Ay there are sulphurous mineral springs, the 
water being delicious to drink ; and in the centre of the valley, and 
on its banks, is a village of the same name as the river, prettily 
situated in a grove of trees — in fact, the whole of the valley is one 
scene of beauty. The railroad from the Casilda runs through the 
valley some distance, and if the time-table is so arranged that the 
traveler can go from Trinidad in the morning and return in the even- 
ing, he will be delighted with his trip. 

On the way back from the Loma del Puerto, the tourist can visit 
the magnificent place of Recreo, " Quinta," or country house of the 
Cantero family, which is situated a short distance from the town, at 
the head of the beautiful valley, and at the foot of the mountains, 
which rise up behind it forming a majestic background to the lovely 
beauties of the place. It is a lovely walk to this estate of an early 
morning from Trinidad, and one can go in and walk around these 
beautiful grounds with constant and renewed pleasure. 

In the north of the town is the barranca, as it is called, a place of 
very rapid descent, leading from the town down into the valley, the 
road being dug out of the side of the hill and paved with stone as 
far down as the bank of the river Tayabo, which flows by the town 



HERE AND THERE IN CUBA. 477 

at this point. Here the washerwomen have established their city 
laundry, as it may be called, and a ridiculous and not very decent 
sight it is of a wash-day to see men and women, many entirely naked, 
seated upon the rocks or half immersed in the water, washing, slash- 
ing and pounding the clothes with pieces of stone, and if the traveler 
has been unfortunate enough to trust any of them with his wardrobe k 
he will learn to his cost with what effect. 

This barranca is also a lovely stroll of an evening, when the sha- 
dows of night are stealing over the quiet hills and valley below, giv- 
ing them a peculiarly quiet and sombre hue. 

The Public Buildings. 

There are several public buildings and churches in the town of 
Trinidad, which offer nothing in particular to the traveler, except it 
may be the extreme filthiness of the hospital for women and children, 
and the dreary jail-like appearance of the care el ox dungeon; while of 
the churches, the only one of any size is that of San Francisco. The 
church of Santa Anna is small and old, and Paula, at the Plaza de 
Carillo, not much better. 

On Palm Sunday, doors and windows are decorated with the 
graceful branches of the real palm, and it is a great day with church 
and state, the morning Mass being celebrated with great pomp at the 
church of San Francisco, The governor and staff, in full uniform, 
the town council in sombre full dress, the officers of the troops 
stationed in the town, " pipe-clayed and mustache waxed," are all 
there to assist. 

Trinidad, in the winter or gay season, is a very hospitable, pleasant 
place for the stranger. Almost every night there is a ball or party, 
and in the daytime there are frequent excursions made up the before 
mentioned lovely valley. There is no pleasanter place to spend a 
winter in than Trinidad de Cuba, and any traveler not caring to travel 
over the Island, but who wants quiet, rest, and pleasant enjoyment, 
should winter there. 

And now the boat is In, and will start in a few hours. We order 
our volante, make our preparations and bidding adieu tc our kind 



478 HERE AND THERE IN CUBA. 

friends after giving a knuckle-breaking shake of the hand to the jolly 
old landlord, we turn our backs upon the varied attractions of this 
city, carrying away with us a lively memory of its beautiful scenes, 
lovely women and hospitable people, the delightful ride down the 
mountain forming a fitting close to our exceedingly pleasant stay \n 
Trinidad. 



CHAPTER XXXVII. 
Life in the Coffee Mountains. 

A TRAVELER who is familiar with every part of Cuba, fur- 
nishes the following interesting account of the cultivation of 
the coffee plant, which furnishes one of the chief exports of 
the Island : 

" Our horses are all saddled and bridled, and the party, consisting 
of five persons, is ready to mount. Our cigars are lighted, and, 
mounting the sturdy beasts that have some work in prospect, we ride 
off in the fine bracing air fresh from the mountains. 

" My future host, like most of the inhabitants of this section of the 
country, was a descendant of the old original French settlers, 
refugees from the terrible massacres of St. Domingo, who, coming to 
the Island of Cuba, settled themselves, as much as possible, in their 
old occupations of sugar-making and coffee-growing. French, there- 
fore, by birth, educated in the United States from a boy, and living 
constantly amongst Spaniards, he had the happy faculty of being able 
to speak either French, English, or Spanish, as a mother-tongue, in 
addition to which he spoke the Creole dialect — a compound of vile 
French and some little Spanish, which is the usual language of the 
negroes and the plantation. 

" A voung Englishman, amusing himself and at the same time 
making money by traveling all over the norld as a photographer, 
was one of our number, while two Cuban planters, one of them a 
nephew of our host, made up the party. 

" We rode through some lovely valleys, covered with sugar-cane, 
and then, striking the hills, began the ascent of those mountains 
known as the ' Yateras,' which appeared quite near to the village of 
Catalina when we started, but now seemed to recede almost as we 
advanced. Our journey was to be about eighteen miles in extent, 

A7P 



480 LIFE IN THE COFFEE MOUNTAINS. 

continually ascending until we should reach the very summit of the 
mountains, where the finest coffee grows, and which is new known as 
the coffee district. 

" Gradually getting to the foot of the hills, and then ascending 
them for some time, we begin to take in the beauties of our road and 
the advantages of our position. We have left now the fiat country 
behind us, and are coming into clumps of forests, with occasionally a 
hacienda, or farm, and now and then a small coffee place, and at last 
.ve strike the steep mountain path. 

Beauties of Mountain and Landscape. 

" Now, turning in our saddles, we begin to see the magnificent 
beauties of the landscape. Far above us, the wild, high mountains 
are raising their forest-clothed crests, while around is a broken coun- 
try of hills with small valleys in their midst, and far away, below us, 
we catch glimpses through the turnings of the road of the level 
green plain of the earth below. Mossy rocks, strange trees, beautiful 
ferns, and curious hanging vines, or graceful festoons of moss we see 
upon either side of the road, and here and there a wax-like looking 
tree pushes out to our view from the thick roadside foliage the 
golden but bitter fruit of the wild orange, which tempts us in vain. 

" Occasionally we hear shouts from some of the invisible laby- 
rinths of roads followed by the head of some coffee-laden mule 
emerging around the curve, and, perhaps, succeeded by twenty or 
thirty others, all with their loads of coffee following their leader, to 
whom they are attached head and tail, down to the village. 

" The air is pure and dry, about the temperature of that of the 
White Mountains in summer, with that peculiar feeling of rarity and 
lightness so agreeable to breathe in. Our journey is enlivened by 
pleasant converse and these beautiful scenes, varied by occasionally 
meeting some very gentlemanly French planters on their way down . 

and at last we begin to near the summit, when Mr. L , my host, 

tells me to prepare myself for the most beautiful view I have seen. 

" A little incredulous, after seeing Trinidad, I prepare myself to 
enjoy, perhaps, some wild or extensive view; when, upon turning a 



LIFE IN THE COFFEE MOUNTAINS. 481 

high, rocky point in the road, we have presented to our view nearly- 
such a scene as Church has endeavored to depict in his ' Heart of 
the Andes,' though here, of course, there are no mountains so high. 
Farther than eye can pierce extends the wonderful distance in this 
view of the ' Plain of Guantanamo,' where sea and sky appear to 
fade away into fairy mist before meeting each other. We see a vast 
plain of cane-fields, which at this distance appear as simple pastures, 
while farther away the strong light of early morning gives the appear- 
ance of lakes of silver. Near us and above us rise the majestic hills, 
covered with innumerable gigantic forest trees. 

" Now we come in sight of our destination, which we see, as the 
road skirts around the mountain, to be a lovely place, nestling in the 
shadow of the great hills behind it, while in front is a lovely valley, 
teeming with the luxuriant vegetation of the tropics. 

" At the cross-roads we bid good-by to our planter friends, promis- 
ing to pay them a visit, and putting spurs to our horses, we gallop up 
between the walls of the sccadcros (coffee dryers) to the door of mine 
host, where, dismounting, we are cordially and pleasantly received by 
Madame and her two beautiful children, of whom, with my usual 
penchant for handsome children, horses, and dogs, I became very 

fond. 

A Danish Custom. 

" There is a good old custom amongst the Danes, I believe, that 
when the first toast is drunk, it is to the ' roof of the house which 
covers every one in it — meaning thereby that it is all one lamily 
strangers included. This same custom might appropriately be kept 
up amongst the French coffee-planters of the mountains; for when 
you take your seat at the table, you are immediately installed as one 
of the family circle. 

" And how, O reader ! can I adequately describe to you that most 
delicious life in those lofty mountains ? — the pure air, the morning 
lides, the beautiful effects of nature, which were impressed indelibly 
on my memory by my ever unsatisfactory attempts to transfer their 
loveliness to my sketch-book. Let us try a day or two together, and 
*ee if we can form an idea of this life, so pure, so fresh, so natural. 
St 



*82 LIFE IN THE COFFEE MOUNTAINS. 

" Rising at six o'clock, we all meet around the family board, where 
each one takes his simple cup of coffee, with, perhaps, a biscuit, the 
children being supplied with milk. The gentlemen then mount their 
horses, the little ones go off with their governess, and we leave 
Madame in charge of the establishment, while we gallop off to ride 
over the place and see the hands at work in the coffee groves, or, 
perhaps, making a new road, or clearing off the timber of the forests 
for a new coffee-field. 

"Try to imagine any beautiful mountains that you have ever been 
on, covered with woods, two or three thousand feet above the sea, 
with a temperature always the same the year round, the road dug out 
of the very mountain side, the vegetation as luxuriant as it is possi- 
ble to be, with vines, ferns, wild orange trees, and shrubs, from the 
branches of which moss hangs down in graceful festoons ; and more 
than all, the wonderful, curious parasites, which, graceful and beauti- 
ful as they are, carry certain death to any forest denizen they twine 
their arms around. Here is one carlled the ' enpey? taken in one of 
the paths in the Calderones mountains. 

Trees Squeezed to Death. 

" It is a parasite which entwines itself around the ceiba, or other 
tree, and in course of time entirely kills it. It originates on the tree 
itself, and throws its roots downwards, which, in the course of their 
growth, entwine the tree in such a manner that eventually its trunk 
is compressed as if in a vice, and life very soon becomes extinct. 
The parasite, with its roots continually descending, takes strong hold 
in the ground. Sometimes, however, it shares the fate of the tree 
whose death it has caused, inasmuch as when the original tree dies, 
the strength of the parasite has not been sufficiently matured to sup- 
port its own weight alone, and it therefore falls to the ground with 
its victim. 

" There is a great number of curious smaller plants, some of which 
we know, others that we never heard of before — fit studies for the 
botanist. Here is the ' ladies' collar' an herb with a large leaf, shaped 
like the old style of collars worn by ladies, from which it gets its 



LIFE IN THE COFFEE MOUNTAINS. 483 

aame. There is the old familiar plant of the castor oil, of which we 
as children have no pleasant recollections. 

, " This grows in great quantities all over these mountains, and is 
prepared by the superannuated negro women, who select the beans 
and clean them ready for extracting the oil. I was very much 
amused with an old woman, perfectly blind, who seemed to pick out 
the perfect and imperfect seeds with the greatest facility, while she sat 
croning over her task on the stone floor of the coffee-dryer. 

" Still wandering along, we come out upon an opening in the woods, 
and, looking down, we see the new fields being prepared for coffee ; 
which is simply done by cutting down the timber upon the side of a 
hill favorably situated, and burning off the brush. The seed is put 
in with those cf the plantain, the cacao, or the palm, and left to 
grow. One of these fields looks exactly like one of our western 
clearings. 

" Let us turn now into this grassy path that looks as if it would 
bury itself deep in the woods ; a step or two more, and just look at 
that ! what a curious combination of strange trees, warm sunlight, 
and graceful foliage ! 

" One tree quite common throughout the Island is a species of 
parasite, somewhat peculiar even for a tropical country, known as the 
jagucy ; it has the same peculiarities as the aipey, but with the excep- 
tion that after its roots take hold in the ground they unite and form one 
trunk of many pillars, becoming a sturdy tree, while the original tree 
dies out and decays', leaving a hollow space in the centre of the para- 
site. In this it only follows the usual fate of this variety of trees as 
observed elsewhere. 

" It is supposed the origin of these parasites is from the ordure of 
the birds who carry the seed and deposit it in the tree, where it 
appears to take root in the branches as a simple vine, gradually 
assuming size and strength, until finally it causes the death of its host. 
Usually, every morning, I visited with my host some neighboring 
estates, where we were always cordially received and welcomed, and 
immediately the disposition of the house was put at my service by 
*:he courtly owners. 



*84 LIFE IN THE COFFEE MOUNTAINS. 

'• At eleven o'clock, breakfast was served, which was the same sub- 
stantial meal as in the low country, except there was a greater variety 
of fine vegetables — yams, potatoes of various kinds, delicious water- 
cresses fresh from the cool brooks, and several that we are not 
acquainted with, such as the apio and the yuca, the latter one of the 
most useful plants on the Island, of which there are four classes 
known, but only two are indigenous to, and used on, the Island. 
From this they make the cassava bread, and it is generally used 
boiled as an esculent; starch is also made from it in large quantities. 

" The chayote, which, cooked in a certain way, is as good an imitation 
of apple-sauce as can be made, is an odd-looking fruit, resembling a 
big, rugged pear, growing on a vine which is very tender and grace- 
ful, and when twining itself around some cacao or plantain tree, has a 
very pretty appearance. 

A Curious Fruit. 

" The inamey is also a curious fruit, of a peculiar shape, like a 
large sweet potato, with a rusty brown skin, which, when cut in two, 
displays one long, milky-white seed, and surrounding it the rich, 
reddish-brown color of the fruit, resembling a nutmeg-melon. To 
my taste it is too ' sickish,' having no juice, but being of a dead-ripe 
flavor. 

" Here in the mountains I found that siesta-taking, after breakfast, 
prevailed, notwithstanding the fact that, even in the middle of the day, 
the sun is not too hot to go out in, except in the depth of summer. 
In lieu of my siesta, while the rest of the household were dozing, I 
would frequently stroll off on foot, somewhere in the vicinity of the 
house, to sketch, always being sure, when seated on some log or 
rock, of having the companionship of one of the many beautiful 
lizards that abounded, and that were so tame that they ran all about 
me, being perfectly harmless, too. 

" One little fellow amused me very much. I had taken up a com- 
fortable position, with my back against a cocoa-nut tree, when this 
little fellow came running down the tree and looked over my 
shoulders, apparently with the greatest eye to criticism. I turned 



LIFE IN THE COFFEE MOUNTAINS. 485 

my head to watch him better, but, as he did not seem to mind me 
and kept perfectly quiet, I ' took ' him, with his bright, knowing look. 
Some of these lizards are perfectly beautiful, with their exceeding 
brilliancy of color, those with btripes of green and black across their 
back, and with little jet eyes, being charmingly pretty. 

" The c'liomeleon, that we have heard so much about, it was not my 
good fortune to meet the whole time I was on the Island. I was 
struck with the entire absence, also, of venomous insects and reptiles. 
The worst thing they have is the scorpion, whose bite, though not 
considered dangerous, is very painful. 

Troublesome Insect. 

"The 'jigger,' as it is vulgarly called, is an insect that often occa- 
sions more trouble to strangers than anything else, being a small 
insect that gets under the toe-nails, and, if not taken out, makes its 
nest, inflames the foot, and causes much pain ; it can then only be 
removed with the knife. 

" ' Monte de Verde ' is, probably, the finest estate in this section of 
the country, being a very large and well-regulated property, situated 
in a lovely valley, amidst surrounding hills. The house is large and 
handsome, with a beautiful flower-garden in its rear. The fruit and 
vegetable-gardens are very large and very fine ; and some attempts 
have been made to cultivate the strawberry, this being the only por- 
tion of the Island where that berry is found. Here among the 
mountains it grows wild, though never very large. In fact, there 
are no berries such as v/e have, upon the Island, as far as my experi- 
ence goes. 

" The loveliest place that I saw was the one known as the 
' Orangeries,' which, high up among the mountains, was itself built 
upon a plateau, from whence an ascent to the top of the still higher 
hills was made. It was a fine stone house, built something in the 
style of some of the Swiss chalets, and finished in its interior with 
the beautiful polished wood of the country. It commands a splendid 
view of the adjacent mountains and the valley beneath. 

" Some of the roads around these different estates were very iovely. 



186 LIFE IN THE COFFEE MOUNTAINS. 

The light fell upon them, tempered by the thick, screening branches 
of the fragrant orange plants, the lovely jessamine, or the delicate 
heliotrope ; while hanging temptingly within one's reach was the 
large and brilliant-looking pomegranate, which here grows to a size 
as large as the orange 

" To the naturalist, the botanist, or the artist, this section of coun- 
try offers every inducement for a visit. Rare plants, curious insects, 
and superb and novel views meet one at every step. At the same 
house with me was stopping Mr. Cleinwerche, a Prussian artist of 
great talent, whc had passed some time in various parts of the 
Island, painting its striking scenes, which he informed me surpassed 
any he had ever seen in the many lands in which he had traveled. 

Delightful Excursions. 

" Our afternoon rides were here always as agreeable as those of 
the morning ; in fact there was no time during the day that it was not 
cool enough to exercise, either on foot or on horseback ; and many 
were the rides we had to the house of some neighbor, where, stop- 
ping to dine, perhaps, we returned in the evening over mountain 
paths made bright for us by the rays of the moon, which added new 
beauties to the scene ; or, if the moon did not favor us, there was 
always the bright peripatetic candle-bearer, the ' cucullo', by whose 
brilliant light one can not only walk, but even read. 

" This insect is about the size of our roach, and has somewhat its 
appearance, being perfectly black, with two small, bright eyes in the 
back of its long head, on each side of which extend two small, sharp 
horns, or feelers. These two eyes, in connection with another in the 
point of its breast, are the live orbs that give out the bright light, the 
three together, when the insect has its wings spread, appearing in the 
dark nights as one brilliant, by the light of which one can see to read 
a letter. 

" They are used, it is said, by anxious lovers, at their stolen noc- 
turnal rendezvous ; and it may be for this reason they are such great 
favorites with the ladies, who wear them in their belts, their hair, and 
under their thin, gauzy dresses, which they wear of an evening ; the 



LIFE IN THE COFFEE MOUNTAINS. 487 

effect as may be imagined, is as novel as it is beautiful. In some 
parts of the Island they also make pets of them, by keeping them in 
little cages, feeding them on sugar-cane, and bathing them ! 

" A wonderful natural curiosity I saw here, also, in the form of 
vegetable lace, made from the bark of a tree called 'guana: A small 
piece of this, not larger than one's thumb, is taken, a thin slice cut 
from it and moistened in water ; after which the women pull it with 
their hands, first one way and then the other, until it opens out into, 
apparently, the finest threads, looking exactly like the best mull. 
The ladies take this, embroider it, put an edging of real lace on it, 
and wear it for neckerchiefs. 

Flower of Holy Week. 

"There is one flower I was particularly struck with, known as the 
' Flor de Pascua,' as well from its profusion as its great beauty. This 
is the special flower of Holy Week, from which it receives its name, 
from the fact that about this season it comes out in all its brilliancy 
of color. It is a simple bush, with the leaves growing in graceful 
clusters, which then become of a bright vermilion color; while the 
flower itself is of a most delicate cup or vase-like form (something in 
the shape of an Etruscan vase,) the colors upon which are a most 
delicate gradation from white to rich pink. It has also the most ex- 
quisitely formed stamens. I have seen it but once in our hot-houses. 

" I must confess to being disappointed in the number of birds of 
Cuba, or else I was not very fortunate in seeing them during my stay. 
At all events, I remarked frequently, in the woods, the absence of 
those sweet-singing birds so numerous with us ; and as I have read 
so much and heard so much of the brilliant plumage of the birds of 
the tropics, I was disappointed in not seeing them. Chirping-birds 
abound, and the most brilliant bird I saw was the tocorroro, a bird 
belonging to the woodpecker tribe. 

"In the country beyond these mountains of the Yateras, which is 
still a wilderness, there are, I am told, a great many attractions for 
the scientific man, in the large numbers of strange birds, insects, and 
reptiles. 



488 LIFE IN THE COFFEE MOUNTAINS. 

" It was the last of April before I left the Coffee Mountains, and 
the rainy season, as they call it, had then set in. This only added to 
my pleasure ; for the rain, as far as I saw it, consisted of a splendid 
shower either once or twice a day, which had the effect of making 
the air even more bracing than before. Sometimes, in the middle of 
the day, it would rain for a couple of hours as though the very flood- 
gates of heaven had broken open, and then, having exhausted itself, 
it would clear up, the sun would come out in new glory, and we 
would have a most beautiful afternoon and evening. 

" For the invalid traveler I can imagine no more perfect country or 
ife than that of the Coffee Mountains of the Yateras. Breathing 
:ne purest of air, living luxuriously upon the astonishing profusion 
of natural supplies, enjoying a climate that from day to day and 
week to week does not vary a degree, and experiencing the exhilar- 
ating and invigorating effects of the constant exercise on fine horses 
that becomes a daily habit, the sick man needs to despair indeed if 
he is not recuperated by such a life as this. Unfortunately, unless he 
is recommended to some of the hospitable people of that section, 
there is no means of living, unless, indeed, he has a taste for ' camp- 
ing out,' which, amid such scenes and in a climate like this, would be 
no hardship. 

" If, in some happy day for the Cubans, their Island shall be blessed 
with a more liberal government and a more tolerant religion, which 
will be followed by a strong tide of emigration, these hills, mountains 
and valleys of the Calderones and Yateras will be the chosen spots 
of the Island ; for here, with comparatively little expense and less 
trouble, can be made the most beautiful homes in the world for those 
fond of rural life and the beauties of nature. 

" As for me, the benefit I derived in health and strength, and the 
great pleasure I experienced from a short sojourn amidst the scenes 
and the people of the Yateras, have given me memories never to be 
forgotten, and I shall ever treasure them up as we treasure the fairy 
visions of our youth." 

How few of us, as we sit in our cozy dining-rooms after dinner, of 
a cold winter's day, sipping our coffee, think or know of the trouble, 



LIFE IN THE COFFEE MOUNTAINS. 489 

che time, and the labor that is taken, far off under the hot sun of the 
tropics, to give us that little cupful of mahogany-looking fluid; of 
the sweat and the toil of its cultivation ; of the processes, machinery, 
and journeys necessary before it comes to us ! Few of us know 
whether it grows like corn on a cob, or beans in apod; and few 
there are who will not be astonished when told that it grows and 
looks on the tree very much like a cherry. 

The Coffee District. 

Although coffee is now grown, more or less, all over the Island of 
Cuba, and at one time was as largely cultivated in the valleys and 
plains as is at present the sugar-cane, yet now the portion of the 
Island where most of the coffee-raising is done is in the district and 
near the town of Cuba, and in the jurisdiction of Guantanamo. Land 
in this portion of the Island has been so cheap that planters have 
found it to their interest, as their old places became worn out, to sell 
them, and come with their means to these beautiful hills, where the 
climate was healthy, the crop of coffee better, and the land to be had 
for a song. 

In addition to this, coffee culture, for various reasons, has in some 
degree declined, principally owing, it is said, to the United States 
placing an almost prohibitory tariff on Cuban coffee in favor of Brazil, 
which empire receives our flour and grain at a nominal tariff, while 
in Cuba there has been always a tax upon our exports of that kind 
Be this as it may, it is certain that many of those who formerly 
planted coffee now make sugar, partly because they can use their 
large number of hands to greater advantage, and partly because, 
owing to the uncertainty of the coffee crop, the price has varied from 
three to thirty dollars per hundred pounds. 

The cafctales most noted for their richness and for the excellency 
of the fruit, one finds in the range of mountains known as the Sierra 
Maestra, vicinity of Cuba, in the Vuelta Abajo, and in the districts of 
Alquizar and San Marcos. From the fact that these latter are old 
places, that have been established a long time, they are possessed of 
all that degree of elegance and magnificence for which they are origi- 



490 LIFE IN THE COFFEE MOUN1 AINS. 

nally celebrated; nevertheless, the mountains of Guantanamo are 
now considered the coffee regions of Cuba, and there the cultivation 
is on the increase, while in other places it has decreased rapidly. 

After the ingcnios, the cafetalcs are the most extensive agricultural 
establishments carried on in Cuba — the latter exceeding the former 
generally in their handsome appearance and care. Their size varies 
from one hundred to one thousand acres, or even more in the moun- 
tains, The number of hands employed in the low country is as high 
as one hundred, but generally averages to every one thousand acres 
about fifty or sixty negroes. 

How Coffee was Introduced. 

The first coffee plantation was established in 1748, the seeds being 
brought from Santo Domingo by one Don Jose Gelabert, of whom it 
is related that it was his intention when he came to make only a gar- 
den. He established himself at a short distance from Havana, but 
the cultivation of coffee did not really commence until the arrival of 
the French from Santo Domingo, about 1795- 

In addition to the cultivation of coffee, large amounts of rice, plan- 
tains, potatoes, cacao or chocolate, and ail kinds of fruit are raised ; 
the seeds being planted in tne same fields with the coffee, in order 
that the trees may eventually afford the shade which the coffee-plant 
requires. The guarda rayos, or roads that lead up to the dwellings, 
are generally shaded by these plants, or by long rows of palm or 
cocoa, and in some cases a beautiful, graceful species of poplar, all cf 
which form very charming avenues or drives. 

The cafctal has also its batty, or square, like the ingenio, formed by 
the different buildings, which latter are not generally so extensive as 
on the sugar-estates, consisting of the dwelling-house, the store- 
houses, the stone terraces for drying the coffee, the stables, the negro 
quarters, and the coffee-house where the fruit is prepared, this being 
generally the largest of the structures. The number of subordinates 
required is small from the small number of hands employed; and 
although there are sometimes administrators to the cafetalcs, in gen- 
eral they are managed by the proprietor with the assistance of the 



LIFE IN THE COFFEE MOJNT/vINS. jf.i 

mayoral, who may be white, but who is generally the most intelligent 
negro on the place. 

It is computed by some authorities that, in good seasons, a crop is 
produced in about the following proportions: To every two hundred 
and sixty-four acres, two hundred thousand trees can be planted, 
which will produce, on an average, sixty-two thousand five hundred 
pounds of coffee, which, at the rate of twenty-five dollars per bag of 
one hundred pounds, will give the nice little return of fifteen thou- 
sand dollars for the cultivation of over two hundred and sixty-four 
acres. From that, of course, have to be deducted the expenses, 
which vary according to locality and circumstances, or the number of 
hands employed. 

Description of the Plant. 

In the past few years, owing to the gradually increasing scarcity of 
negroes, many improvements have been made in the use of labor- 
saving machines, some of which are worked by steam-power in lieu 
of the old-fashioned way of working by water-power. 

Coffee is an evergreen shrub, with oblong, pulpy berries, which are 
at first green, then bright red, and afterwards purple. That portion 
of it used as the coffee of commerce, and which, when ground and 
boiled, we drink, is a secretion formed in the interior of the seed, 
and enveloping the embryo plant, for whose support it is destined 
when it first begins to germinate. It is raised from the seed when 
green or dried in the air, and then planted in the ground, where it ii 
left to grow for forty days, at which time the shoot uppears, if the 
weather is favorable. 

The number of seeds planted in one hole is ten or a dozen, the 
holes being made with a knife or pointed iron. These are made in 
regular rows, being carefully marked out, with a space of four inches 
between each plant, and four and a half inches between each row. 
The shoots having begun to appear and gain size, are carefully and 
regularly weeded, about once a month, for two years ; at the end of 
which time those plants that have attained to the height of thirty 
''nches are cropped. At the end of the third year, they begin bear- 



492 LIFE IN THE COFFEE MOUNTAINS. 

ing in small quantities ; at the end of the fourth year, they are in 

full bearing, and continue giving good crops, if the land is good, for 

twenty-five or thirty years ; at the end of the sixth or seventh year, 

they require pruning ; and after ten years, they only bear good crops 

every alternate year. 

At the end of February, the bearing plants begin to blossom, and 

in cold places, even as late as March and April, continuing even up 

to June. Now is the time to see a coffee place in its beauty. Far as 

the eye can reach, is one vast sea of green, wax-like looking leaves, 

upon bushes the branches of which are now in their luxuriant growth, 

mingling one with another ; and scattered over this sea of green are 

the beautiful white blossoms, looking at a distance, like millions of 

snow-drops, or, on being closely examined, resembling a most delicate 

Maltese cross of milky wax. In bunches, as they cluster thick around 

the stem, they resemble the flower of the jessamine, possibly even more 

delicate. 

Clusters of Red and Golden Fruit. 

It is hard to conceive anything more beautiful, particularly if look- 
ing over head, you see the banana tree, with its clusters of green and 
red and golden fruit peeping out from their large, green leaves. At 
the end of each bunch there is a curiously formed, acorn-shaped, and 
regal purple-colored bud or blossom. Add to this sight the red, 
yellow, and purple fruit of the cacao, and the rosy-cheeked pome- 
granate, and you have an idea of this land, lowing with milk and 
honey — the milk, if you desire it, being found in the clusters of green 
cocoa-nuts that hang far above your head. 

The coffee-blossom remains in flower about two days, and then are 
formed the berries, the size of gun-shot, until at maturity they attain 
the size and appearance of very small cherries, or, to be more exact, 
cranberries. This maturity is attained usually by the month of 
September, and the picking season then begins, although it is now 
the rainy season. As the berries are ripening all the time, the pick- 
ing season lasts as late as November sometimes. If the months of 
July and August are dry months, with no rain, the berries become 
scorched with the hot sun. Coffee is a fruit which requires a genial 



LIFE IN THE COFFEE MOUNTAINS. 493 

hut even temperature, there being hardly any possibility of its having 
too much rain. 

The picking is done by the hands on the place — men, women and 
children all going through the rows, each one with two bags and a 
basket (according to the capability of the hand), which they are re- 
quired to fill during the day with the round, rich, red berry. Each of 
these berries contains two seeds, side by side. The bags being filled 
are brought to the house on the backs of mules, and there received 
by the overseer, who measures the fruit for the purpose of seeing how 
much each negro has picked, and whether he has performed his pro- 
per amount of labor. 

The best trees yield half a pound, but the average is a quarter of a 
pound per tree. The berries are now ready for the pulping-mill, 
which is a large wooden wheel, set vertically in a circular canal with 
ribbed or clinker-built wooden sides, in which are placed the berries 
for the purpose of having the rind taken off, the operation being per- 
formed by the wheel, which is worked either by steam or water-power, 
passing over them. This apparatus generally occupies the lower floor 
of the coffee-house, usually a large frame or stone building. 

The Pulp in Ferment. 

The pulp is now placed in a large, dry, stone basin, of about the 
form and size of a small swimming bath, and allowed to remain there 
and ferment for twelve hours, for the pupose of more completely 
separating the rind and the beans ; water is then let into the basin, 
and all the gum, which is a sort of slimy, mucous matter that in the 
old process deteriorated the coffee, is washed off. 

Then the coffee is taken out of the water and placed in the 
secaderos, where the berries are spread out to dry in the warm rays 
of the sun, which they do in from seven to nine days, if there is no 
rain. These secaderos, or drying floors, are large stone basins, quad- 
rangular in shape, about fifty or sixty feet long by twenty or thirty 
feet wide, arranged in a sort of terrace, side by side, and sometimes 
a dozen in number, the brow of the hill on which the dwellings 
stand being usually selected to build them upon. They are about 



494 LlFH, IN THE COFFEE MOUNTAINS. 

three feet from the ground, built of stone, with plastered floors hav- 
ing an inclination from the centre to the sides, to drain off the water 
in case of rain, they being entirely uncovered, but having a stone 
wail around them about a foot high. 

Should it come on to rain while the berries are thus exposed, they 
are hurriedly swept up into large heaps in the centre, and over then; 
4s placed a sort of covering similar to a small wigwam, made of 
thatch or palm leaves, and impervious to water, there being two 
handles to lift them by. The moment it ceases to rain, the berries 
are spread out again until thoroughly dry. They are covered in the 
same way at night to protect them from the dew. 

Each berry now resembles a round bean, or the kernel of a small 
hazel nut, having its exterior pellicle quite dry and dark-colored, in 
which state it is placed away in the store-house until the whole crop 
is gathered, each batch of green fruit undergoing the same process as 
fast as it comes in. 

Ready for the Market. 

Now the preparing of the fruit for market takes place, the first 
operation of which is placing the dry berries again in the pulping- 
mill, the wheel of which, being put in motion, cracks off the dry skin, 
and the two grains of coffee fall out, just of the shape in which we 
see them for sale ; thence, it is put in the fanning-mill, identically the 
same as that used by our farmers to separate the grain from the chaff. 

Being now free from all extraneous substances, the beans are placed 
again in the pulping-mill for the purpose of being polished, or col- 
ored ; for think not, O reader, that coffee comes to us of its natural 
color without a little " doctoring; " as to every thousand pounds of 
grain there is added half an ounce of lampblack, and the wheel now 
travels over and over it, until it assumes the fine green color it has 
when we get it. This is called the polishing process, and some 
planters use for the operation charcoal made of cedar-wood ; others, 
again, use soapstone and powdered white lead, according to the shade 
they wish to give it. For the European market, the latter is used, 
wiiich gives the coffee a dark-grey color. 



LIFE IN THE COFFEE MOUNTAINS. 495 

Now it is ready for the sorting-roori, in which there is a circular 
sieve with several compartments of different-sized wire, which, 
worked by machinery, revolves. From the room above, and directly 
over the sieve, there is a wooden box or pipe, leading down into a 
wooden funnel-shaped reservoir, for the purpose of conducting the 
grain from the room into the sieve, the quantity being governed by a 
wooden stopper in the side of the trough. The grain, being placed in 
this reservoir, runs slowly into the revolving cylinder through an 
opening in its first compartment, and from thence into the others, 
being assorted in its passage through the different-sized wires of the 
sieves into three kinds. 

Different Qualities. 

El caracolillo is the small round coffee, one grain of which only is 
found in each berry, and resembles the celebrated Arabian coffee, 
" Mocha," from which it also takes its name. This is the most 
prized, bringing usually a dollar or two extra per bag ; its flavor is 
not really better than that of other coffee, except that the grain, 
being smaller and round, is more easily and thoroughly roasted ; the 
bean also presents a much better appearance to the purchaser. 

This small grain, strange to say, is supposed to be a disease in the 
coffee, as, generally from want of rain, or from some freak of nature, 
the grain appears in this stunted form. Great care is used in sorting 
so as to secure the best of coffee, free from dirt, pebbles, and decayed 
berries. This is done by the negro women picking over all the cof- 
fee. They are arranged on two sides of a long table, in a well- 
lighted room, used expressly for this purpose. 

It is quite a novel sight to see twenty or thirty of these women in 
their oddities of dress, or even the scarcity of it, picking away from 
the great piles of beans before them, and filling huge baskets with 
the bright green grain, keeping up all the time a monotonous chant- 
ing, in which each one takes a part, interrupted now and then by a 
stranger, whose advent is an era in the lives of these out-of-the- world 
people, and who immediately address him with : " Da me medio, mai 
tre" (give me five cents, master). 



496 riFE IN THE COFFEE MOUNTAINS. 

The second quality of coffee, called el primer, or lavado (first or 
washed), is that of which the largest quantities are made, being the 
coffee in its usual size, of two grains to the berry, sound and large. 
The third quality is the poorer or refuse coffee, the most of which is 
retained upon the place and used or sold at a low price for domestic 
consumption. The fine Caracolillo coffee is very carefull;/ re-sifted 
and picked over by some specially skillful hand. 

The coffee, being now ready for market, is placed in strong canvas 
bags, in which we see it, and each one of which contains about one 
hundred and seven pounds. It is then forwarded to the commission 
merchant in the town, to be sold for account of the owner, or is 
sometimes bought outright by the merchants. 

The transporting ol the coffee to market is a business of itself, and 
is generally carried on by some native Indian, the owner of large num- 
bers of mules, though on some of the estates where horses are plenty 
the proprietors send down their own trains. These consist of from a 
dozen to thirty or forty horses or mules, which have upon their backs 
the most old-fashioned, useless packs that can be made, being simply 
huge walls of straw, sometimes covered with canvas, rarely leather, 
roughly put together, and retained upon the horses by girths and 
ropes, or canvas breeching, which sometimes are fancifully decorated 
with fringe, as is also the head stall, particularly of the leader, who 
has also a string of bells upon his neck, in Spanish muleteer fashion. 
Upon there rude pack-saddles the coffee is strapped, a bag on each 
side, over which a cloth or matting of the palm is thrown, to keep it 
from the rain. Each train is now arranged with the head of one 
horse tied to the tail of the one in front of him, the guide and his 
assistant mount their horses, and the train is started down the moun- 
tain to the village. 

It is quite a novel as well as pretty sight to see these trains taking 
their way down the hill-side ; the long line of mules, with their 
curious burdens, winding in and out of the romantic road, the gay 
appearance of the leader, the musical sound of his bells, and the 
shouts of the muhteros, all serve to make up a picture strange and 
interesting. 



CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
Rural Life and Customs. 

" "\ T ° traveler /' says N. P. Willis, " except for some special 01 

j^\| overruling reason, leaves willingly Havana;" but as we 
like contrast, and are fond of seeking the Cosas de Cuba, 
both of town and country, we seek the contrast, as Baron Humboldt 
writes it, that " one encounters in leaving the capital (Havana), for 
the country, and exchanging its civilization, partial and local, for the 
simplicity of manners and customs that reigns in the isolated farms 
and little villages of the Island." 

Besides this, for an invalid traveler who has been passing all his 
winter in the tropics it is not wise, even if safe, to go north until the 
chill of winter days is there thoroughly thawed from the atmosphere 
by the genial rays of an early June sun; and as Havana has no 
'onger attractions for us out of season, we turn to the country. 

There is much pleasure, too, in wandering about among some of 
these little villages in the bright, hot days of the Cuban spring, when 
the early rains for an hour or two each day only serve to brighten up 
the landscape and freshen the air a little. Making, therefore, our 
headquarters in such places as Giiines, where there are tolerable 
accommodations, and where such lovely views of the valley of Giiines 
are afforded from the " Hill of Fire," we run out to San Antonio or 
Marianao, where we get a sea breath, with a whiff of ocean, fresh and 
strong, or even to Mariel or Cabanas, twenty-five miles along the 
coast. 

There is the paeblo of San Cristobal, too, in the Vuelta Abajo, in 
a beautiful country, easily accessible by railroad, and at a short dis- 
tance from which are the romantic Falls of the Rosario. This, too, 
is the district sanctified in the cause of freedom by the struggles and 
final capture of Lopez, in his unsuccessful attempt at revolution, his 
82 497 



498 RURAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 

fate being sealed almost within sight of this beautiful cascade ; for, 
having had an engagement with the Spanish troops, he with seven 
companions fled, when they fell into the power of a party of sixteen 
of the peasants of that section, and being sent up to Havana, were 
there garroted. 

In another chapter there has been given an account of the manner 
in which the subdivisions of land in Cuba obtained their names, and 
it only remains now to speak specially of one of these, first of 
which is the " Estancia," the most humble of the rural properties, 
but nevertheless the one that produces or can produce the best returns 
to its cultivator. Situated in the vicinity of the cities or of the large 
villages, its purpose is to raise for their markets garden stuff, small 
meats, fruits, chickens, eggs, milk, cheese, and other articles of gen- 
eral and necessary consumption ; also forage, or fodder rather, for 
the horses maintained in the towns. 

Antiquated Farming. 

The size of these places varies from a dozen acres to one hundred 
and twenty-five, many of them being cultivated by tenants only, who 
pay a rent of about two hundred dollars per year for thirty or forty 
acres. This system of farming, so opposed to the real advancement 
of agriculture, and the indolence natural to the laborers accustomed 
to expect from the fertility of the soil what their labor ought at least 
to assist in bringing forth, keep these places in a state of backward 
ness. Only a small part is devoted to garden stuff, which requires 
care, while not much more is put in melons, plantains, and potatoes, 
more than one-half usually being sown with maloja, a kind of corn, 
which grows without giving good grain, and is cut green for the fod- 
der of animals which prefer it to any other kind of grass food. 

The fruit-trees are not renewed, and the principal care of the 
estanciero, or farmer, is the raising of chickens and cows; and it is 
from this reason, in part, that there is a scarcity of garden sturt 
and fruits in the local markets — a scarcity that is augmented when 
they cheapen the other products, and when the crop of beans, onions, 
potatoes, peas, etc., does not amount to the smallest part of the 



RURAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 499 

quantity consumed, although the towns are surrounded by innumer- 
able acres of uselessly fertile land. 

In many of these estancias the cultivation of the soil is abandoned 
for the business of lime-burning and the raising of sufficient fodder 
for the oxen that draw the lime to market. The dwelling-houses on 
these places are small and of moderate expense in construction, and 
the number of negroes does not exceed, on the best of these places, 
five negroes to every forty or fifty acres, the land being worth about 
sixty dollars per acre. 

A Succulent Vegetable. 

The sweet-potato is the principal vegetable raised on these estan- 
cias, and is mostly of two kinds — the white and yellow. It is similar 
to ours, and is eaten in the same way, and is produced all the year 
round. The white (or Irish) potato is not raised on the Island in any 
quantity, being poor and small ; large quantities are, therefore, im- 
ported. 

" El name " is the tuber, solid and heavy, juicy, white or yellow, 
and very nutritious, being stewed with meat. This name is given it 
by the negroes, though its Indian name is " ajc. : ' It weighs five or 
six pounds, and has even been known to weigh as much as twenty- 
five pounds. The negroes prefer it to any other vegetable, making 
several dishes from it by compounding it with other things. It is of 
somewhat the same nature as the yam. 

Platanos are raised also in large quantities. On all these places 
are raised lettuce, cabbage, and many nutritious seeds, most of which 
flourish the year round. Where the estancia is large, and managed 
with judgment, there are a great many fruits of various kinds raised; 
but it would be hard to find in the whole Island an orchard, such as 
we understand one to be. Our system of intelligent gardening, farm- 
ing, and fruit-raising would prove very profitable ; for the whole 
Island is a perfect garden naturally, and with very little attention, 
almost everything grows in abundance. 

Gardening as a business does not seem as yet to be followed by 
the C ibans. and the only flower-gardens that one sees are those 



600 RURAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 

attached to private houses, or, occasionally, small ones near the 
towns. Some of these private gardens are remarkably beautiful, laid 
out with great taste, and presenting, when they are confined simply 
to flowers, a most brilliant appearance with their very highly colored 
plants. At Marianao, Matanzas, and around Havana, one sees these 
in perfection ; but the most lovely gardens, combined with fruits, are 
those attached to fine sugar-estates, if we except such as the Cantero 
gardens, at Trinidad, and the public gardens on the paseo Tacon. 

The Bee Industry. 

Upon the fincas, or small country places, attentic: is paid more 
particularly to raising and keeping bees, from which large quantities 
of wax and honey are produced, the former being quite an import- 
ant article of export. There are two kinds of bees used on the Island, 
the comnn, or exotic, brought from Florida, and the srioila, or 
native bee. The little honey produced by the latter is used by the 
Cubans for medicinal purposes, the dark-colored wax, under the 
name of " virgin wax," serving as lights for the poor of the country. 

The imported bee creates one of the principal sources of rural 
riches, as its products are exported in considerable quantities, its 
honey even being sent abroad, while the white and yellow wax pro- 
duced are well-known articles of commerce ; in addition to which, 
large quantities are retained for domestic use in the churches, at 
funerals, etc. 

In a district where these rural places are of a good class, and 
potreros are found, it is pleasant to mount one's horse, and ride round 
amongst them, as the owners, particularly of the better class, are 
quite intelligent about their own business, and always kind to the 
stranger; having, notwithstanding their rustic life, a certain air of 
easy politeness, peculiar to the people of the Latin race. And almost 
the first thing you are asked, even in the humblest of these finca 
residences, is, " Quiere cafe, Senor?" (Will you have coffee, sir), of 
which beverage these people are very fond. The houses are often 
very humble affairs indeed, as regards material, though they may be 
ample in number of rooms, with numerous outbuildings. 



RURAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 



!>0] 



They are usually composed of one story, roughly constructed of 
poles, palm-leaves, and thatch, put together in such a way as to be 
impervious to rain, yet light enough to admit plenty of air, especially 
as the doors, if there are any, always stand open. A living-room, 
with a sleeping-room or two, all on the same floor, which is often of 
earth, make up the main building, while a simple roof connects it 
with an outbuilding, where is the kitchen, in which are performed the 
.household and other duties of the women. 

Many of these women, be it said to their credit, are more indus- 
trious than the men, as they attend to their domestic duties, often 
weave cotton cloth for home consumption from the small amount of 
cotton raised, and have a general superintendence over the place. 
Cotton, by-the-by, though it cannot be said to be one of the products 
of the Island, does grow in sufficient quantity to manufacture out of 
it a rough kind of cloth, used by the country people. Every attempt 
to cultivate it systematically has been a failure ; and yet in the Coffee 
Mountains one may see beautiful cotton growing wild, in small lots, 
but the moment it is attended to and looked after, strange to say, it 
ceases to flourish. 

It is upon these rural places also that the Cascarilla cosmetic 
powder, so great a favorite with Cuban ladies, is prepared from the 
egg-shells; and the extent to which this is used may be imagined, 
when it is estimated that there are over one hundred thousand pounds 
consumed every year. 

The last of the rural places we are called upon to notice is the 
" Hacienda de Crianza," or sitio, as it is called — an uncultivated, un- 
enclosed place, where the cattle are allowed to run wild, unattended 
except by the montero, who goes about on foot, or the half-savage 
sabanero, who, being mounted, rides in amongst the herd. Their 
united business is to scour the fields every day, and pick out the new- 
born calves, with their mothers, and take care of them for fifteen or 
twenty days at the houses or sheds ; to see if there are any dead 
animals, or to pick out those ready to send to market or kill for con- 
sumption. 

" The rural population of the Island," says a Cuban author, " has 



502 RURUL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 

rusticity, but not that boasted simplicity of the European laborer. 
Our guajiro (countryman) is astute though frank, boastful though 
brave, and superstitious if not religious. His ruling passions are 
gambling (particularly at cock-fights, of which he is very fond), and 
coffee, which he drinks at all hours ; his favorite food, pork and the 
platano, usually roasted." 

His costume consists of a pair of loose pantaloons, girdled at the 
waist with a bit of leather, a shirt of fancy-colored linen, a handker- 
chief of silk or cotton tied around his neck, or, more frequently, 
about his head, upon which is a broad-brimmed hat of yarey — a 
species of common palm-leaf — while his usually bare feet are thrust 
into common leather pumps or slippers. Rarely does he wear a 
coat, even if he owns one, and his shirt is worn more generally 
outside than inside his pants. 

Takes Life Easy. 

He never works regularly, nor does much else than direct the cul- 
tivation of his property, look after the cattle, or, perhaps, act as carter 
or teamster. Sometimes he may plow, or sow a little grain, or even 
pick fruit ; but if he employs negroes he makes them do the work. 
Sometimes he does a little trading on his own account, and may, 
perhaps, keep a sort of country-store and tavern, if his place is on a 
public road. He travels on horseback, armed invariably with the 
machete, and often carrying a sun-umbrella, taking care to stop at 
svery tavern on the road, where he is ready to talk with any one he 
meets, or accept an invitation to drink. 

La guajira (country woman) is not so talkative as the husband, 
particularly with strangers, to whom her partially Castilian blood 
makes her, at first, ceremonious and dignified, even rising to receive 
them. She can mount a horse, though she usually rides with her 
husband, sitting in front of him, upon the neck of the horse almost, 
while his right arm encircles her. She dresses in the most simple 
manner (often a little too much so) in a camison, or frock, with a 
kerchief around her neck ; seldom wearing stockings, except on state 
occasions — of a ball, visit, etc., her head often being covered with a 



RURAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 503 

huge straw hat when she moves about, but otherwise dressed with 
the utmost care to display to advantage her superb hair. 

These country people all have manners and customs peculiar to 
themselves, even their food being different from that of the cities ; and 
it is amongst them one can study the Cuban cuisine. They have but 
two meals a day, always accompanied by coffee, which they also take 
on rising in the morning, at night-time, and at any hour of the day 
they fancy, or may have a guest. Civilization has found its way 
even to the homes of these simple people ; and, on the richer and 
larger places, English beer is now generally used, and ' > strangers 
even champagne is presented. 

Entertaining Guests. 

So natural a custom is it with these hospitable country people to 
entertain the guest, that, does he happen to be present when a meal 
is announced, he is not even honored with an invitation, but he is 
expected, as the most natural thing in the world, to seat himself at 
the table and partake of their food, whatever it may be. To refuse 
to do so, unless he has the excuse to make that he has lately eaten, 
would be considered an offense. As the service of the table, in most 
of the cities, at all the hotels, and many of the best private houses 
partakes of the nature of French cooking, it is only in the rural parts 
one can see the bona fide Cuban dishes. 

The daily meals of the more humble farmers consist of fried pork 
and boiled rice in the morning, and, in lieu of bread, the roasted 
plantain. At dinner, they make use of cow-beef, jerked beef, birds, 
and roasted pig ; but usually this meal consists of roasted plantains, 
and the national dish of ajiaco, or what we should call an Irish stew. 
This dish is to the Island what olla podrida is to Spain. T t is com- 
posed of fresh meat, either beef or pork — dried meat of either — all 
sorts of vegetables, young corn, and green plantains. It is made 
with plenty of broth, thickened with a farinaceous root known as 
malanga, and has also some lemon-juice squeezed into it. It is 
toothsome, cheap, and nutritious — quite equal to the French pot 
au feu. 



504 RURAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 

Boiled rice is never dispensed with at any meal, and the cooking 
of it is understood to perfection. It is used mixed in all their stews, 
or with a simple sauce of tomatoes. El aporreado is made of half 
raw meat, dressed with water, vinegar, salt, etc., which operation is 
known as perdigar (or stewing in an earthen pan) ; then mashed and 
stirred together, it is fried slightly in a sauce of lard, tomatoes, garlic 
onions, and peppers. Hashes are always good upon the Island— town 
or country — even if one does not know who made them. The tasajo 
brujo, or jerked beef bewitched, so called from the fact that it giows 
so much larger in cooking, is the dish found almost everywhere, and 
cooked in many ways. 

Amusements of Country People. 

It is almost always a savory dish the traveler need not be afraid 
of, particularly if he has had army experience. There are some 
other dishes, but with the knowledge of the above the stranger will 
be safe to accept an invitation to dine with any of the hacendados, 
and it will also be seen that Cuban cookery is not such a fearful thing 
as we have been led to believe ; for little or no oil is used, and the 
small quantity of garlic used is so disguised in other things that few 
people could tell it. These country folks also have their special 
amusements as well as cookery. First upon the list stand the cock- 
fights. 

Every village, or pueblo, has a patron saint, for whom there is a 
special dia dc fiesta, which all the villagers and people in the vicinity 
celebrate with masses, etc, at the village church, and afterwards by 
games, dancing, and sports, the women taking part also as spectators 
if in no other way. But usually they are divided into two parties, 
each party being distinguished by the color of the ribbon it wears, 
and which gives its name to the band. 

Each party elects a queen, chosen for her grace, beauty, or good 
style, and the admirers of each are known as vassals, and they give 
their presence to the amusement going on. When the performers 
belonging to one party or the other are successful, the vanquished 
party with its queen and vassals has to render homage to the rival 



RURAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 605 

queen. The goose-fight is another one of their sports, and a very 
cruel one it is ; for in a plaza or smooth field two forked poles are set 
up, and from one to the other a rope is stretched ; in the middle of 
this a live goose is hung, firmly tied by the feet. 

The place is now filled with spectators, while five, ten, or fifteen 
mounted guajiros pass at full gallop in front of the goose, i.nd 
attempt to seize the head, which has been well greased, and separate 
it from the body in their full career. Of course many unsuccessful 
attempts are made, and the bird usually dies before the efforts are 
successful, but he who succeeds in this glorious attempt is declared 
victor. 

Feasts and Celebrations. 

Las loas (or prologues) are practiced in the country villages in 
their religious feasts and civil celebrations, — as processions of the 
Holy Virgin or the Patron Saint, etc. A little girl, dressed (or 
undressed) as an image, is conducted, publicly, in a small cart pro- 
fusely decorated with banners, flowers, and branches ; before her, 
march on horseback four or six men, in costumes of Indians, and 
behind, others clad as Moors. A band plays, and the procession, 
which is composed of almost all the people of the village, when 
arrived at the appointed place stops, and the child stands up and 
recites or declaims her loa, a composition appropriate to the subject 
of the celebration. 

Altares de Cruz — the custom of forming altars in the houses in the 
first days of May, in order to celebrate the invention of the Holy 
Cross / is preserved very generally in the interior of the Island, but 
with a character almost entirely profane. The altar is erected mod- 
estly in a sleeping-room of the house, on the 3d of May, or day of 
Santa Cruz, and on every day of the first nine, the guests gather 
before it, to dance, sing, play, and eat and drink at times. On the 
first night, the master of the house delivers a branch of flowers to the 
guest that he chooses, and the latter contracts, in receiving it, the 
obligation to re-form the altar, and pay the expenses of the next 
. night's entertainment, he himself taking the name of the godfather. 

The second night arrived, the godfather or godmother renews this 



506 RURAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 

performance of the branch upon another victim, and it thus happens 
that each altar has a new godfather for each night, and as every one 
endeavors to do better than his predecessor, it happens that the last 
night winds up the festival with a superb supper and a full orchestra. 

Mamarrachos is the name given to the individuals on horseback, 
who, in a great part of the Vuelta Arriba, ride, masked and gro- 
tesquely costumed, through the streets, during the Carnival or other 
seasons of merry-making. Surprise parties are very numerous, not 
only amongst the country people, but at the watering-places during 
the season. 

The country dances, however, are something especially peculiar, 
many old-fashioned customs and figures being retained, although the 
usual waltzes and contra-dances are danced, too, while the former are 
less formal, being the social meetings of intimate friends or neigh- 
bors. 

The especial dance is the one known as the zapateo, and is peculiar 
to this Island. It is danced to the music of the harp, the guitar, or 
the songs of the guajiros, by both women and men, and has a good 
many peculiar figures, the principal object appearing to be for the 
women to see how many men they can tire out, as they give every 
now and then a signal to their vis h vis " to leave," when he is 
replaced by another. A low humming or singing is kept up by 
those present, broken every now and then by the loud plaudits of the 
spectators at the success of some dancer. 

In many sections of the country one still finds sugar estates, 
almost as they were originally, in the possession of owners of mode- 
rate means and little intelligence, who have not availed themselves o)' 
the advantages afforded by improved machinery and scientific modes 
of making sugar. 

Some of the places, agai.., are so poor in soil and product, having 
been worked for so many years without intermission, that the owners 
do not deem it worth while, even if they can afford the outlay, to put 
up new mills and machinery, — much preferring to try new land. 
Still, the country is improving in its agricultural pursuits of all kinds, 
though in none has it made such rapid strides as in sugar-making. 



RURAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 507 

Cuba is divided, rather indefinitely, into two unequal portions — 
She " Vuelta Arriba," or higher valley, and the " Vuelta Abajo," or 
lower valley. General usage seems to settle the point, that the 
" Vuelta Abajo " is all that fertile low country lying to the west of 
Havana ; at all events, it is only from that section that the true " Vuelta 
Abajo " tobacco comes, and it is also there that one finds not only 
sugar but coffee-growing estates. 

Beautiful Section of Country. 

Guanajay is a small and prettily-situated village on the grand mail 
route, that runs through the "Vuelta Abajo." The town lies in the 
heart of a beautiful section of country, some twelve miles from the 
sea. To the north of it, between it and the sea, are any number oi 
fine, large sugar estates, beautifully situated in a rolling country, 
which extends to the very borders of the ocean, upon which, and 
within a short drive, are the towns of Mariel and Cabanas, upon bays 
of the same names. 

The best properties known as vegas, or tobacco farms, are com- 
prised m a narrow area in the south-west part of the Island, about 
twenty-seven leagues long by about seven broad, shut in on the north 
by mountains, and on the south-west by the ocean, Pinar del Rio 
being the principal point in the district. 

These vegas are found generally on the margins of rivers, or in 
low, moist localities, their ordinary size amounting to about thirty- 
three acres of our measurement. The half of this is also most fre- 
quently devoted to the raising of the banana, which may be said to 
be the bread of the lower classes. A few other small vegetables are 
raised. 

The usual buildings upon such places are a dwelling-house, a dry- 
ing-house, a few sheds for cattle, and, perhaps, a small hut or two, 
made in the rudest manner, for the shelter of the hands, who, upon 
some of the very largest places, number twenty or thirty, though not 
always negroes — for this portion of the labor of the Island seems to 
be performed by the lower classes of whites. Some of the places 
that are large have a mayoral, as he is called, a man whose business 



608 RURAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 

it is to look after the negroes, and direct the agricultural labors ; but, 
as a general thing, the planter, who is not always the owner of the 
property, but simply the lessee, lives upon, directs, and governs the 
place. 

Guided by the results of a long experience, transmitted from his 
ancestors (says a Spanish author), the farmer knows, without being 
able to explain himself, the means of augmenting or diminishing the 
strength or mildness of the tobacco. His right hand, as if guided by 
an instinct, foresees what buds it is necessary to take off in order to put 
a limit to the increase or height, and what amount of trimming is 
necessary to give a chance to the proper quantity of leaves. But the 
principal care, and that which occupies him in his waking hours, is 
the extermination of tne voracious insects that persecute the plant. 
One called cachaga domesticates itself at the foot of the leaves ; the 
verde, on the under side of the leaves; the rosquilla, in the heart of 
the plant ; all ot them doing more or less damage. 

Fighting a Plague. 

The planter passes entire nights, provided with lights, cleaning the 
buds just opening, of these destructive insects. He has even to carry 
on a war with still worse enemies — a species of large, native ants, 
that are to the tobacco what the locust is to the wheat. This plague 
is so great at times, that prayers and special adoration are offered up 
to San Marcial to intercede against the plague of ants. 

Tobacco of the best quality, such as is produced in the choice vegas 
of the " Vuelta Abajo," is known by its even tint of rich dark brown 
and freedom from stains, burning freely, when made into cigars, with 
a brown or white ash, which will remain as such on the cigar, some- 
times, till it is half smoked, without falling off. 

The city of Havana has the honor of being the first place in which 
tobacco was grown. Its culture commenced in 1580, there being 
nothing heard of the now-famed "Vuelta Abajo" until 1790. This cul- 
ture is one that has increased very rapidly in the Island ; it being 
stated upon good authority that, in 1827, there were only five thous- 
and five hundred and thirty -four tobacco farms, while in 1846 there 



RURAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 509 

were more than nine thousand, and in 1859 some ten thousand, 
which shows a very rapid increase indeed ; and it is now estimated 
that the tobacco crop alone of the small portion of the Island under 
cultivation is worth from eighteen to twenty millions of dollars 
annually. 

Thirty-three acres of ground produce about nine thousand pounds 
of tobacco. From these figures, taking the bale at one hundred 
pounds, and the average price of the tobacco at twenty dollars per 
bale (though this is a low estimate, for the crops of some of the vegas 
are sold as high, sometimes, as four hundred dollars per bale), an ap- 
proximate idea may be formed of the profit of a large plantation, in a 
good year, when the crops are satisfactory. 

Thrifty Palm-trees. 

The volante with three horses shows a peculiarity of fashionable 
volante-riding in the country ; the calesero riding one horse and 
guiding the other two, the three being harnessed abreast; the 
Sefioras, meanwhile, reclining at their ease, escorted by their mounted 
attendant. 

The palm-tree is probably the most useful if not the most beautiful 
tree in the Island of Cuba, and is found in every portion of it, giving 
at once character and beauty to the scenery ; and that known as the 
palma real (royal) is only one of the twenty- two varieties which are 
enumerated in this majestic family of the tropics. Its feathers or 
branches fall airily and gracefully from the top of a cylindrical !runk 
of fifteen or twenty yards in height ; in the centre of the branches is 
the heart or bud of the plant, elevating itself perpendicularly, with 
its needle-point like a lightning-rod. 

This heart, enveloped in wrappers of tender white leaves, makes a 
most nourishing and delicious salad; it is also boiled like cauliflower, 
and served with a delicate white sauce. In either way it is a very 
agreeable esculent for the table. The branches, numbering from 
twenty to twenty-two, are secured to the trunk by a large exfoliated 
capping, and between each scale there starts out one of the feathers 
or branches. At the foot of these burst little buds, which open into 



610 RURAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 

delicate bunches of small flowers, followed by the fruit or seed, which 
is used as nourishment for the herds of hogs on the breeding-farms; 
it is also used as a substitute for coffee amongst the poor people of 
some portions of the Island. 

The trunk of the palm is a cylinder or tube, filled with milky 
fibres, which, torn off in long strips from top to bottom, are dried, and 
make a narrow, thin kind of board, with which the peasants form 
the walls of their rustic habitations ; while the branches serve as 
roofs or covering to their lightly constructed houses; though for 
this latter purpose are also used the leaves of nearly all the palms. 

The leaves serve for roofs and for lining the walls of the huts, and 
for general purposes of shelter for the country people of Cuba; 
while they are used also as wrappers for bales of tobacco and other 
materials. Torn into narrow shreds, they answer for tying packages 
in lieu of twiae. . 

El yarcy is another of the palms that merits especial mention ; for 
from it they make the excellent palm-leaf hats that are commonly 
worn on the Island amongst the country people and the villagers, 
the manufacture of which constitutes one branch of industry amongst 
the women, and for which they get from one to two dollars per hat. 

Farcous Watering-Place. 

If there happens to be a party of friends together they can make 
the trip to San Diego, and pass some weeks there agreeably enough, 
taking care, however, to carry with them some light reading, of which 
none can be had either in Spanish or English, in the town. The 
country around is quite picturesque, and, like almost all parts of 
Cuba, beautiful in the novel character of its scenery and vegetation, 
while there are numerous objects of interest to visit in the neighbor- 
hood. Of course, in a place like this, if the traveler can speak no 
Spanish, he is thrown entirely upon his own resources, unless, indeed, 
he makes, as he is likely to do, the acquaintance of persons who can 
speak English. 

One of the excursions which can be made in the neighborhood, is 
that to the " Arcos de Caiguanabo," which is the official name given 



RURAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 511 

to the " doors " or caves formed by the river San Diego, passing 
through a peculiar natural formation of rocks, a magnificent and im- 
posing arch divided by a grand pillar, the arch being about one hun 
dred feet wide, one hundred feet long, and sixty feet high, the river 
running quietly beneath it. 

Beneath this portal, and on a level with the river, upon its right 
bank is the first cave, the entrance to which is straight and stony, 
and suddenly opens into a large chamber filled with quantities of 
stalactites, or specimens of concrete petrifactions ; columns large and 
small, and, in fact, a thousand figures of fantastic and capricious 
shapes, which a fertile imagination can liken to a number of things. 
This saloon receives the light by two apertures that permit also ol 
exit on both sides of the hill. 

A Journey to the Oaves. 

Beyond the arch, and reached by a narrow path made at the foot 
of the range of hills, for a short distance, is the second cave, which 
presents the same characteristics as the first. From this cave there 
is a descent, when, following the base of the hills for the distance o. 
about one hundred and eighty feet, another ascent is made by a path 
to the third cave, called the " Cathedral," to enter which it is neces- 
sary to have torches, as the light penetrates no farther than the en • 
trance. The dimensions of this chamber are larger than those ol 
the others. The world-wide custom of inscribing names is here 
noticed. 

The journey to these caves is made mostly on horseback, and it is 
quite the fashion to come out on breakfast picnics here amid these wild 
and picturesque scenes. Those who have been fortunate enough to 
visit the caves of Bellamar, near Matanzas, will not appreciate these 
so much. 

The cave of " Taita Domingo," said to be the identical cave inhab- 
ited by that hardly-treated but diseased negro who discovered the 
baths, is to the northeast of the town, and is a large gloomy cavern 
not yet explored. With a good guide and much labor the traveler 
can also make the ascent to the top of the " Loma de la Gtiira," from 



512 RURAL LIFE AND CUSTOMS. 

which can be had a fine view of the surrounding country, and the 
north and south seas ; the former about eighteen miles distant, and 
the latter about twenty-five. 

A walk or ride up to the " Casita de la Loma," or as it is more 
properly called, " Hermosa Vista " (beautiful view), which is the hill 
seen to the north from the Plaza of Isabel II., is good exercise and 
pleasant occupation. 

In addition to the shooting, which can be had in the mountains 
there are the usual diversions in the way of balls and dancing, at 
which there are frequently present very pretty girls, whilst for those 
whose taste runs that way there are occasional " cock-fights." 

In returning from San Diego, it is more convenient to return by 
the western railroad. This can be very pleasantly and quickly 
accomplished by taking a horse or volante to San Cristobal and the 
cars from that place. 



Distinguished Cuban Patriots: 

The Founders of Liberty. 

BY GONZALO DE QUESADA, 

CHARGE D'AFFAIRES OF THE REPUBLIC OF CUBA. 

NO one man can be said to be the author of a revolution, which 
is a complex result of many heterogeneous elements. 

The Cuban revolution, more than the work of any one 
man or of any group of patriots, is the natural consequence of the 
secular and unique policy of spoliation of the mother country. Like 
a torrent — and this popular and unanimous uprising is an irresistible 
one — this revolution has been growing in magnitude and power as 
/ears of constant oppression, deluded hopes, and repeated mockery 
nave passed ; its turbulent waters, at times in apparent serenity, now 
sweep to the sea, from the gray peaks, crowned with blue, of Santi- 
ago ant* Pinar del Rio, over the eternal green meadows and poetic 
palm-grove*} of the Central Provinces -to-day in imposing desola- 
tion—overwhelming the tottering ruins of mediaeval despotisms, the 
institutions of slavery and immorality. 

And when the inexhaustible Cubar fields, purer and more fertile 
by this necessary commotion, shall te ?m again with the undulating 
foliage of the canes, when our vegas and cafetals shall blossom as 
they never did before, with their snowy flowers, and our gorgeous 
birds shall in delightful harmony intone the hymn of love and 
remembrance for the heroes who have fallen ; when the black clouds 
of the blessed hurricane shall have disappeared, there shall rise on 
his gigantic pedestal of copper and iron mountains, illumined by the 
sun of liberty, in proud contemplation of his people, happy and 
redeemed, the sublime figure of the truest and bravest of patriots— 
of the Cuban genius — Jose Marti. 

If ever there was a directing hand in a revolution it was that of 
33 513 



514 THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 

Jose Marti in the Cuban. He had calculated the time when the 
tempest would break forth, and had prepared the conditions so that 
the torrent would not find any obstacles in its way ; he had prophe- 
sied its march and triumph. The originality of this extraordinary 
man consisted in this intuition, in this ability to forecast the events 
which were to follow with such mathematical exactness. 

His life is like the symbol of his country's history; in his diverse 
and versatile accomplishments, in the salient virtues of his character, 
he embodied those of his native land; even in his glorious death and 
his immortality we see the future of Cuba which must give even her 
blood to conquer her deserved place among the great. 

A Noble Patriot. 

Marti was born when Cuba was still under the painful impression 
of the execution of Lopez and Aguero, two years before the liberal 
Catalan Pinto was garroted for aspiring to Cuba's independence. Of 
Spanish parents, Marti was animated, always, as are all the Spaniards 
and Cubans who fight to-day for the tri-color flag, by the highest 
aims ; he did not and could not hate the Spaniards as individuals ; he 
wanted Cuba for all the honest inhabitants of the Island ; he would 
sever the connections between an old country, incapable by its con- 
stitution and traditions to understand modern life and to keep pace 
with civilization, and a new country situated in the very heart of a 
continent devoted to progress and freedom. 

He would drive from the victim the vampire which has for five 
centuries sucked her best blood ; he would make Cuba independent 
of Spain ; he would not exterminate his ancestors, as the ancestors 
would exterminate his children ; he would constitute a nation of 
cordiality, of enterprise ; father and child reconciled under a gener- 
ous regime ; the laboring peasant of Spain, employing his energies 
in a better work than butchering his cousins, and his cousins dignified 
and raised to freemen ; where all, whatever be their race, creed or 
nationality, could live in peace and prosperity. 

From his Valencian father, an officer in the Spanish army, there 
came to Marti that decision and bravery which stood by him in many 



THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 515 

a dark hour of his existence ; from his mother he inherited that 
tenacity and virtue which overcame all the difficulties of his life, 
filled with agony and almost a constant struggle from his childhood 
to his early grave. 

Born in the Capital, where vice finds an easier hold, Marti saw 
with his own eyes the subtle plans of Spain to enervate the Cuban 
youth by offering all the facilities of prostitution, and at the same 
time undermining his manhood by gambling in all its forms : the 
Royal lottery which Spain authorizes because she derives from it a 
large income, the Monte, the Chinese dens, the cock-pits ; by tempt- 
ing him with voluptuous music and dance ; by discouraging every 
legitimate pastime, anything that could strengthen or elevate him ; 
and Marti's life was the immaculate example, in his school and col- 
lege days and in his subsequent career, of virility and virtue. 

Story of His Early Life. 

His early years were passed in the country, where he acquired that 
love of nature which afterwards was revealed in his poetry; he was a 
precocious child whom it was impossible to keep away from books ; 
many a time he was surprised in the stillness of the night by his 
parents, who looked with disfavor on his literary proclivities, reading 
by the light of the moon or by the phosphorescence of the Cocuyos, 
fire beetles, a stray volume of Dumas -'The Three Musketeers," or 
an old edition of the Quixote or some sonnets of Fray Luis de Leon. 

Thus his inclinations for the romantic, as well as for the highest 
models, commenced when he could hardly spell ; his first verses were 
his first punishments ; he was to be a clerk and not a poet, and he was 
chastised ; but his imagination, his love of the beautiful, his exquisite 
taste afterwards gave remarkable fruits. 

The family, which was well-to-do, was forced to come to Havana. 
Marti, from his open-air surroundings, was now to become, not yet 
thirteen years of age, an office boy, thrown into the company of an 
arrogant and stupid Spanish shop-keeper and of vulgar emigrants, 
who looked on the little Creole with disdain and jealousy. The boy 
mastered arithmetic wonderfully, and in a few weeks he was keeping 



616 THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 

the books of the firm ; he was doing all the work, while the relatives 
and friends of the foreign proprietor were getting all the benefits of 
his industry. 

But the lad was of steel ; he was helping his family, the father was 
yielding slowly ; he had consented to his going, after business hours, 
to the school of Mendive, the famous Cuban poet. Marti did not 
complain ; the old booksellers had become his friends ; they would 
allow him to handle the old tomes and the new volumes, which it was 
his custom to care for as if they were human beings, and would won- 
dei at the brawny youngster, who would devour a work standing in 
front of those cases which were his only temptations. Marti was 
happy because an old wig-maker, seeing his fondness for the drama, 
would send him with the blonde tresses for the leading lady, or the 
fierce mustachios for the villain, and there behind the scenes he could 
follow the plays and comedies, which years afterwards he could 
repeat from memory. 

Thrown into Prison. 

There sprung up between Marti and his master, Mendivt, a fciost 
loyal friendship; Marti afterwards became his favorite pupil, the 
manager of the school, and in 1869, when the delicate poet was con- 
fined to prison for his political opinions, it was the tender regard for 
his necessities, the devotion with which Marti attended to his family 
and the gentleness and constant affection of the grateful boy, which 
consoled the venerable educator in his hours of trial. 

It was shortly afterwards that the martyrdom of Jose Marti com- 
menced. He was sixteen, when he published his first clandestine 
newspaper, in Havana, in favor of the revolution; for this, for his 
essay of a tragedy in which he symbolized the Cuban struggle, and 
for his disinterested action of claiming, in order to save a friend, the 
authorship of an article against the Government, he was thrown into 
prison, the first reward of the Cuban for his love of Country ! 

So proud was he that he refused from his parents, Spanish, who 
did not sympathize with his ideas, any aid ; so rebel was he that he 
would not let his mother ask for pardon in his name ! On being 



THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 517 

exiled to Spain, he fearlessly exposed before the metropolis, without 
complaining of his own experiences, the horrors that he had seen 
committed : the old men bastinadoed to death, the innocent children 
wounded by the swords, the contemptible vices fomented by their 
keepers, the men who died for want of food, the sick agonizing, ii» 
{he midst of the laughter of their tormentors. 

All this he put into pages which are to-day just as true as they 
were a quarter of a century ago, and which would constitute by them- 
selves a catalogue of crime sufficient to call forth the indignation of 
civilized people. The remedy which he then asked for these abuses, 
moved not by the love for his compatriots, but by his pity for human 
beings, is still forthcoming ; the same atrocities depicted, the same 
terrible deeds are of daily occurrence in the same blood-stained Morro, 
in the unhealthy Cabanas, in the overcrowded and filthy jails. 

A Brilliant Scholar. 

By dint of perseverance, with his once robust health shattered by 
the twelve months spent in physical and moral torture, supporting 
himself by the few lessons which he gave, he conquered from an 
adverse faculty at Saragossa, desirous of his failure, first his degree 
of Bachelor of Arts and Sciences, and very soon after that of Bache- 
lor of Laws. 

He went to Madrid ; in the very Capital he drew that touching 
invitation to prayer for the souls of the eight students shot in Havana 
in 1 87 1, and on the morning of that anniversary there was no church 
or public building in the Spanish metropolis, on which the tremen- 
dous accusation was not affixed ; this was the courageous act of the 
few surviving companions and of Jose Marti. 

When the Republic was established, a Republic which proved 
better than anything else the incapacity of the Spaniards to govern 
themselves, Marti raised his voice against an impossible declaration 
of the Cubans in favor of the Spanish Republic, which was aimed to 
weaken the Cuban Revolution. For seven hours the young orator, 
with wonderful eloquence and convincing logic, thwarted the plans oi 
the enemies of the war. The museums where he studied art, and 



518 THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 

the theatre of which he was so fond, were the only amusements 
which his hard and reduced life permitted. 

He was more than a friend to the Cuban young men studying in 
the universities, an adviser who practiced what he preached, a 
quiz-master, a nurse and a faithful companion. Many a one to-day 
recalls the abnegation with which he cared lor them when ill, how he 
would scold them when they left their books, how he established a 
lodge for the Cubans, in which night classes were given to the 
children of Madrid. Many a physician and lawyer to-day earns his 
living with the diploma that Jose Marti made them obtain ! 

Preparing for a New Uprising. 

In 1873, he escaped and went to Mexico, where he called his 
family to his side and worked for their support. He is remembered 
there by the brilliancy of his journalism, by the refined talent which 
he showed in the drama, by his feeling verses and by his magnificent 
orations. Unwilling to accept any Government position which 
would prevent him from working for the interests of Cuba, he never- 
theless accepted the representation of the workingmen in a labor 
rongress. 

He now visited Central America. In Guatemala he became Pro- 
fessor of Philosophy in the University and vrote a historical drama 
on the independence of that section of America. 

When peace was signed at " El Zanjon," he returned to Havana. 
He knew that this was only a temporary armistice ; that the Cubans 
had been duped ; that the war would be kindled again ; that it was 
necessary to commence on the morrow of the defeat, to accumu- 
late the elements for an uprising which was sooner or later to come. 
His voice rang with clarion tones in the literary societies; he refused 
to enter the Home Rule Party, knowing how futile would be its 
efforts, and on becoming known that if sent to the Spanish Cortes, 
he would demand for the good of Spain as much as for the Island, 
their complete separation, his name was withdrawn from the list of 
candidates ; nevertheless there were then men in the Province of 
Santiago de Cuba who would only cast their votes for him. 



THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 519 

Marti became the centre of the new conspiracy ; General Blanco, 
.seeing the danger of having such a man within the Island, sent him 
to Spain in confinement ; from there he escaped by way of France and 
arrived in New York City, where with General Calixto Garcia he 
prepared a new invasion of the Island. After its failure he went to 
Venezuela, where he devoted himself to teaching and to newspaper 
work ; but not submitting to the exigencies of Guzman, he returned 
to New York City, where he established himself definitely in 1880 
until, in the month of January, 1895, he left on his last voyage. 

In these fifteen years the amount of his labors was marvelous ; his 
unequaled activity exerted itself in many walks ; but whether as a 
teacher, a poet, an author, a diplomat or an orator, all converged to 
place the cause of Cuba before the world, and to acquire sympathies 
for her impending revolution. 

Masterly Essays and Orations. 

In the " Hour " he wrote, in his then quaint English, delicious 
articles on art, and that generous American, Mr. Charles A. Dana, 
patronized him, offering him the columns cf his paper, where he 
wrote memorable articles on art and literature. 

His labor as a correspondent for South and Central American 
newspapers is a complete review of all the contemporaneous events 
in the United States. These articles, when collected into a book, 
will form one of the most profound, entertaining and just studies o\ 
this country. But Marti, in the midst of this work with which he 
earned his bread, had time to write the tenderest thoughts in poetry to 
his child, to publish, in some lines which he entitled " Simple Verses," 
the decisive moments of his life, and in his oratory and prose of fire, 
brilliant with images and filigree composition, he put all that colos- 
sal mind of his, with its new and high ideas, and his soul as grand, as 
brave as his imagination was vivid and rich. 

The Spanish-American Republics vied with each other to do him 
honor and to offer him a permanent home, but he lived not for posi- 
tion or wealth, but for his country; and this man, who had been poor 
all his li f e, when he was rewarded by Argentina and Uruguay with 



520 THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 

their consulates, which allowed him to live more comfortably, to 
give more time to the colored Cubans whom he used to teach in a 
small room in an out-of-the-way street of New York City, and to be 
still more charitable and kind to those who would never go away 
from his door unaided, when Marti was the official representative 
of those Republics, and it was necessary to either give up his welfare 
or his convictions as a Cuban, then this great man preferred to re- 
main with his only means of livelihood, which was a class in a night- 
school, than to cease being a patriot. 

Revolution in the Air. 

His pure, his sincere, his noble life was indeed devoted to Cuba. 
For her he had suffered imprisonment and banishment ; now he was 
to commence the final labor of bringing together the Cubans within 
the Island and abroad, organized in such a manner that when the 
hour arrived for the uprising the soldiers of freedom would not want 
the arms with which to make effective their enthusiasm. Marti had 
an exquisite nervous temperament, and had at the same time that 
rarer quality of being able to bridle his impulses, and the even more 
difficult gift of knowing how long to wait and when to strike. In 
three years he put in tangible shape what he had been preparing for 
so many. And it was time, because the people of Cuba had now 
reached the point which Marti had foretold, when the Home Rule 
Party could no longer restrain the natural indignation of a long- 
deceived country ; when the veterans of the last revolution were pre- 
paring their arms; when the youth of this generation — vigorous and 
determined — were already exercising themselves for the battle of the 
future ; when there floated over the Island the soul of that protest, 
which was now again to drench with blood the most unfortunate, the 
most martyrized of American lands. 

Marti was ready. While others hoped and waited with their arms 
crossed, the visionary, the lunatic, as he was called by some of his 
skeptical countrymen, had done the work for all. He had estab- 
lished the Cuban Revolutionary Party upon whose bases and by- 
laws he had united all the Cuban Revolutionary elements ; he had 



THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 521 

collected slowly but surely the money with which to make the first 
stand. 

At his words, as of an apostle, the heroes of the last decade had 
answered that when the moment came their places would not be va- 
cant ; the loved leaders who more than once had led them to victory, 
did not shrink from this new proof of their loyalty to the cause; the 
gray-haired General-in-Chief felt that he could still mount with dash 
his war charger ; his brave lieutenants, the bronzed giants of the 
East ; the old companions of hardships, of victory and of hope, — all 
responded. 

Marti may not have made the Revolution, but he was the one who, 
thoroughly disinterested, brought together in a sublime embrace those 
of yesterday and to-day, those who wield the sword without which no 
nation can attain its independence, and those who will make the 
laws, without which no independence can be maintained nor the. 
Republic founded. 

Still Enthusiastic for Freedom. 

The temporary drawback that he received when the vessels in 
which he was to take the arms and the leaders to Cuba were cap- 
tured, could not discourage his stout heart. The day he saw all his 
plans fall to the ground, through treachery or cowardice, on that 
day when he was so great in his suffering, he turned to the only 
friends in whom he confided, to the venerable Tomas Estrada Palma, 
to his faithful " brother," Benjamin J. Guerra, to whom this revolu- 
tion owes so much, to Horatio S. Rubens, the distinguished Ameri- 
can lawyer, who has been the truest ally of Cuba, and to myself, his 
" son," and only asked, full of emotion : " Do you have faith in me 
still ? Will you help me again ?" 

When I asked in his name these very questions, six weeks after- 
wards, to the thousands of our countrymen who had already contri- 
buted so liberally to the party, the answer was unanimous and effec- 
tive. Marti, who had left for Santo Domingo, with Generals Collazo 
and Jose M. Rodriguez, to see General Gomez and inform him of the 
condition of affairs^found on his arrival there that the Cubans loved 



')22 THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 

Mm more than ever; that they had absolute confidence in his words ; 
that they would continue to support him ; that they gave him the 
funds with which to go with the Commander-in-Chief to the Island. 

The Island, surprised as well as Spain, at the magnitude of the 
plans of Marti, ripe and impatient, was clamoring for the word- 
When the letters of Marti, which I took to Key West, and from there 
were sent by a trusted messenger across, were received in Cuba, 
Generals Gomez and Marti were getting ready for their departure. In 
those last days when Marti was with me, in January of 1895, I saw 
him in another light, so different from the others before, and the man 
grew in grandeur; indeed, it could be said of him, that to know him 
was to appreciate him, to know him well was to love him forever. 

And it could not be his enthusiasm of a believer, nor his dreams as 
patriot, nor his eloquence, nor his constant and unobtrusive teaching 
tvhich drew those who were around him more closely to his heart. 
No; those were times of doubt, of discouragement and of defeat, and 
yet who could fail to admire that man who would not leave his friends 
alone in trouble, in Florida, but would rush to share with them their 
sadness ? 

His Love for Cuba. 

Who does not admire this man when you see him ? Who woulc 
not feel his heart ache when at night, after the day's worry and work, 
he would try to rest ? His fertile brain was no more under the con- 
trol of his strong will, and he gave vent to those rending wails in 
which he exclaimed, " The traitor, how he struck the bosom of Cuba! " 
Only then, in that kind of somnolence, did I ever here him complain. 

The last two weeks of his life in New York he passed at my house, 
unknown, only to his few trusted friends. In the midst of the blow 
no one caressed my little child with such softness ; no cavalier could 
be more polite to the ladies ; no one more mindful of the comforts of 
others. In the evening, he, whose thoughts were only in Cuba and 
was fretting under the delay, would read to them in his melodious 
and sonorous voice the superb lines in which he has translated Moore's 
" Lalla Rookh," and then he would prepare the chocolate ; while he 
waited for the milk to boil he would read Franklin's autobiography. 



THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 523 

The remembrance of his last farewell on board of the steamer, of 
his kiss of good-bye, open now the fountains of my heart. Marti 
was to enter in the last phase of his varied and splendid career. 
Only one thing could be said of him — he had not proved his valor 
in the field ; he had never fought with rifle or sword. 

In a small schooner, on the first of April, Marti, General Gomez, 
Generals Angel Guerra, Paquito Borrero, Cesar Salas and a domini- 
can, Marcos Rosario, left from a desert shore on the frontier of 
Hayti. The passages were filled with men of war; the Spanish Con- 
suls were advised of their movements ; the captain was a scoundrel ; 
he brought them to Inagua, where the crew at the instigation of the 
mate deserted ; it was impossible to obtain any seamen ; the Cubans 
were trapped in the arid Island ; they could not possibly reach Cuba, 
and Cuba was desperate, expecting their promised coming. 

Landed by Night. 

When General Gomez was writing, " I have lost all hope !" Marti 
had made arrangements with a steamer that took them to Hayti ; 
here they had to hide, for fear of arrest by the authorities ; another 
vessel took them there. On the night of the nth of April, the six 
men, in a row-boat, were placed on the coast of Cuba. They rowed 
with all their life ; the lady hands of Marti directed one of the oars ; 
in a short time they landed ; Marti had kept his word ; he had prac- 
ticed what he preached ; he was in his place ! 

His letters describing the landing; the welcome which the 
Cuban forces in that section gave him ; his appointment as Major 
General of the army; his excursion through the East; his judgment 
of men and things ; his faithful pictures of nature, are literary gems. 
Wherever he went he was received with admiration and love; 
in his excursions through the East he met with enthusiastic recep- 
tions, and with demonstrations of warm affection. Marti spoke to 
the assembled patriots ; his orations were now short harangues, full 
of that irresistible magnetism that swayed the masses; they were 
like the sparks of the clashing of the machete and the sabre; 
they were delivered from the saddle of battle to the defenders of 



524 THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 

liberty ; they are engraved in the minds of those legions never to 
be forgotten. 

The statesman now revealed himself. On leaving Santo Domingo 
he gave to Cuba his famous declaration of principles of the revolu- 
tion, dated at Monte Christi, on the 25th of March ■ m paragraphs 
in which every phrase is packed with ideas, in a massive language, 
he proclaimed the ability of the Cubans to carry on the war, their 
capacity for creating a stable government the day after the victory, 
the antagonism between the mother country and the colony, due to 
their peculiar relations, the belief and proof that in Cuba there could 
neither be l military despotism nor a war of races, the assurance that 
the Spaniard would find in the Cuban not an enemy, but a friend, and 
the determination of the patriots to renew the war, with its conse- 
quent sufferings and miseries, not for a mere dream or poetic aspira- 
tion of independence, but because the dignity and salvation of the 
country demanded it, and because the Cubans were convinced, after 
years of patient and useless waiting, that only by fire and sword 
could the happiness and freedom of the Island be obtained. 

Concealed, in a Hut. 

In the month and a half that he breathed the invigorating air of 
our republic, Marti spent most 01 his time, while not on the march, 
in the humble hut of the peasant, writing on a board of palm those 
decrees calling the resident Spaniards to help make the nationality of 
their children, promising that the property of friends and neutrals 
would be protected ; and above all the one prescribing that any one 
presenting himself to any Cuban chief with any proposition of peace, 
other than that based on absolute independence, should be sum- 
marily tried as a traitor. His last public utterances, embodied in a 
lengthy and lucid document, appealing to the justice of republicans 
and of America, was published in the United States on the 19th 0} 
May, the very day when the prime founder of Cuba was sealing his 
words with his blood, when Jose Marti was dying like a soldier ! 

" Under the palms, on a white steed, with my face to the sun," as 
he wished it, he fell. There, where our only majestic river, the 



THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 525 

Cauto, opens its arms, where from thp rising ground, the valleys, like 
a motherly bosom, invite the eternal rest, canopied by a gray firma- 
ment, there, where the world seems to dilate, Jose Marti battled for 
the last time against Spanish tyranny. 

The Cuban troops had just heard his words of faith; the moun- 
tains still echoed with the applause ; now he was to march West to 
fan the embers into a conflagration in the Central provinces, to 
establish the Civil Government. But the enemy has been advised by 
a spy of the presence of the Cubans ; the camp appears surrounded ; 
the Commander-in-Chief mounts hurriedly and goes to the front ; he 
is followed by his gallant lieutenants. Gomez tells Marti to wait for 
his return. Jose Marti is not the man to remain quiet while others 
fight and are in danger. " A Major-General in the Cuban Army can 
not stay behind." 

A Martyr to Freedom. 

While Gomez is attacking one of the flanks of the Spaniards which 
is completely broken, General Jose Marti advances with a few fol- 
lowers by another road ; he charges ; his spirited horse carries hi.n 
ahead of his men ; it is his first engagement, it is his last victory ; he 
rolls from his horse, fallen, wounded ; his breast is riddled with 
bullets ; the murderous lead entering under his chin has disfigured 
the firm mouth ; the heavy mustache is burnt ; his golden tongue is 
forever silent ! 

Let us hope that it is false that he was picked up by his enemies, 
unconscious, but still with life, and that they cruelly ended his 
existence. Let us hope that it is false, for the honor of those officers 
who barefacedly appropriated his ring and his time-piece and who 
did not respect even the papers which he had next to his bleeding 

heart ! 

To expose the deformed mass of human flesh, in order to terrorize 
his countrymen and to hypocritically speak before his corpse is not 
chivalry. Real chivalry cannot exist in men who desecrate and 
plunder the body of the generous opponent ! 

The cemetery of the City of Santiago, in the Eastern end of Cuba, 



526 THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY, 

is the depository of the mortal remains of Jose Marti, born in 
Havana, in the Western end of Cuba ; but over all the Island there 
palpitates with the same patriotism and fervor to-day as a year ago, 
as it will while a single Cuban lives, the spiritual Jose Marti, who 
guides, from above, our armies to victory ; who consoles the suffer 
ing, the exiled, the orphan, the widow ; who watches with unceasing 
vigilance for the welfare of his children ; who welcomes his brothers- 
in-arms who have joined him in the heaven of immortality f . Jose 
Marti, oh father ! you live in us, you can only die when, consumed by 
the flames or submerged in the waves, Cuba shall be no more ! 

General Maximo Gomez. 

Who is this wiry man, tall, sun-burnt by twenty years of fighting, 
with gray hair, mustache and imperial ; who, alone in his tent, leans 
his well-formed head on his hands, resting on the handle of his erect 
sword ? Who is this warrior who has given orders that no one shall 
enter his pavilion while he laments the loss of his friend ? It is the 
dominican, it is the Cuban General-in-Chief, Maximo Gomez. More 
distressed by the loss of Marti than by his wounds, he prefers to 
grieve alone for his noble companion. Suddenly he rises; he gives 
orders to his aids, he is on the march again to the West ; the way to 
do honor to the memory of the illustrious Cuban is to continue and 
finish the work. 

Gomez rides silently for many days ; his officers do not speak to 
him ; they know that he is thinking of the blow which will prevent 
Spain from taking moral advantage of the death of Marti. With his 
•eyes of an eagle he chooses the direction; with the cunningness of 
tne fox he covers his tracks; when the Spaniards are announcing his 
death and the end of the revolution, the veteran General sends his 
horse across the river Jobabo ; he is in Puerto Principe ; he has 
caught Martinez Campos napping ; two days afterwards he embraces 
again the grand old man of Cuba, Salvador Cismeros Betancourt, the 
ex-Marquis of Santa Lucia ; the veterans flock to his standard ; it is 
here that his renowned exploits of Las Guasimas, Naranjo, La Sacra 
and Palo Seco took place ; it is here that he will mature his plans.. 



THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 327 

When his old companions of sixteen years ago surround him in 
the starred evenings to hear him speak in his charming manner, he 
becomes reminiscent; he tells them how, when he sheathed the 
sword, he went away without a dollar to Panama with his Cuban 
wife and his Cuban children ; " one of them will soon be fighting by 
my side," he exclaimed with pride ; how he struggled with the fevers, 
how he wandered striving hard to make ends meet in Central 
America, Jamaica and Santo Domingo. 

But he does not say that he has abandoned his plantation, that he 
has left his family to the care of his sons ; he does not tell how his 
wife prefers to live poorly from their work rather than accept from 
the grateful Cubans any money which " can be employed in buying 
war material ; " he never relates the abnegation of that model home 
and when he is through his peregrinations hebrusquely says : "and I 
am here again." " When I gave up in 1868 my uniform and rank as 
Major of the Spanish Army, it was because I knew that if I kept 
them I would have some day to meet my own children in the field 
and combat against their just desire for liberty. Now, with my many 
years, I have come to lead and counsel the new generation to 
ultimate victory." 

Iron Hand and Velvet Glove. 

It is that confidence in the cause he defends which has made the 
rigid disciplinarian the idol of his soldiers ; it is that generosity with 
which he has served Cuba which had conquered for him their eternal 
gratitude. He who has refused to preside over the destinies of his 
native land because that of his adoption is not free, is well worthy of 
being considered, as every native of the Island considers him, as the 
very best of Cubans. 

General Gomez's reputation does not merely rest as a fortunate 
guerrilla chief; he is a tactician capable of planning an intricate cam- 
paign and of organizing large bodies of troops which he can manage 
with consummate ability. But General Gomez believes in attaining 
the end with the means at his disposal, and he is to be praised for 
that patience with which he has waited, and waits, until his raw 



528 THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 

troops are organized, and until he has equipped them with arms cap- 
tured from the enemy. 

He is fond of sudden surprises which yield him excellent results. 
In a circular operation which he made in Puerto Principe he collected 
enough weapons for his Camagueyan cavalry ; yet these brilliant 
coups which make him dangerous are apparently followed by periods 
of inaction; for almost three months during the summer of 1895, he 
seems to have retired from active work, but when he had finished his 
calculations, he mounted his horse, and, together with General 
Antonio Maceo, paraded through Puerto Principe, Santa Clara and 
Matanzas and encamped within sight of the Morro Castle light- 
house ! 

Right, and Then Goes Ahead. 

So well measured and disposed were his steps, that one hundred 
thousand Spanish soldiers were impotent to detain him. He seldom 
promises to do anything or prophesy, but when he does one or the 
other he keeps his word ; he does not brag nor exaggerate like his 
opponents, but once he makes up his mind that a certain course is 
right he pursues it to the end. 

Spain must be deprived of resources to carry on the war; the only 
way to do it is by preventing the sugar crops from being harvested ; 
the Government relies on his military arm for the enforcement of the 
order, and General Gomez, who is the first to obey and swear alle- 
giance to the civil authorities, refuses every and all advances, sternly 
follows the instructions, whether it be foe or friend who complains, 
and proves with his army that the Cuban Republic is the supreme 
law of the land because it has power to see that its decrees are com- 
plied with ! And yet not one prisoner has been killed by the army 
under him ! not even when his men are butchered ! 

The affectionate interest that he takes in his soldiers is proverbial ; 
he eats what they eat ; and he sleeps where they sleep. Of his mar- 
velous energy and tireless physique, these thousand of miles which 
he has traversed on horseback, fighting wherever the enemy would 
dare to stand, are abundant proof that all the stories of his failing 
health are as false as the calumnv that he is a condotierri, like the 



THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 529 

paid Generals of Spain, who come to the Island to make hay while 
the sun shines, and who return to Spain, as more than fifty have/ 
already done, as soon as by a mere scratch, or a run, or a massacre 
3f defenseless country people, they are promoted or obtain a pen- 
sioned cross. 

The horses that are killed under the firm stirrup of the veterar. 
warrior, and the wounds which he receives, charging always at the 
head of his dashing staff, only have as rewards the blessings of a 
people, which when emancipated will call him the Liberator of Cuba ! 

General Antonio Maceo. 

Hs is a lion; and he is unconquerable. And he is the favorite child 
of fortune. He is a mulatto and commenced life as a donkey-driver. 
By his courage, coolness, military subordination and talents he rose 
from the ranks to a Major-General in the last war. His worth must 
indeed be indisputable, when against all possible drawbacks he rose 
to such high command ; the favorite disciple of Gomez, he is the 
Lieutenant-General of the Cuban Army. The Spanish use his name 
to prove that this is a war headed by negroes and of race tendencies. 

It is well that they should thus revenge themselves from their 
feared foe ; it is easier than to face him like the brave Spanish Gen- 
eral Santoscildes, and to be killed; it is far better to remain like 
Weyler in the comfortable palace, protected by thousands of soldiers 
and Krupp guns, than to be carried away on a litter, disguised, as 
" our glorious " Martinez Campos was at Bayamo, to save himself 
from being captured, or to retreat in a panic at the second trial in 
Caliseo ; it is safer than to be wounded as General Cornell was in the 
breast, or have the leg bored as General Luque, or be in peril of 
drowning as Col. Devos was by being whipped into the sea! That 
is the " mulatto," as they contemptuously refer to him, their terror 
and constant nightmare. 

Antonio Maceo is not only a lucky fighter— he Is a tenacious ad- 
versary who can never be bought. I said he was a lion, and I recall 
him now in the arena of Cuba, in his Eastern mountains as the Coli- 
seum, for eleven months after the treaty of peace holding out with a 
34 



•530 THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 

thousand faithful against thirty thousand soldiers, against all Spain. 
And I said he was unconquerable, for the lion did not surrender ; he 
made no terms with the master ; the master was satisfied to let him 
go in peace. 

With Gomez he attempted to initiate another movement in 1884; 
the time was not ripe when Marti went to see him at Costa Rica, 
where he was trying to develop a great colony; he found him willing 
and anxious. With his fearless brother Jose and the lamented Flor 
Crombet, he landed in April, 1895, in Baracoa. Hosts went to 
receive him ; he was again in the arena ; but now the spectators were 
his allies, and the old master, Martinez Campos, was the one who went, 
not with honors as did Maceo, but disgraced, discouraged, defeated ! 

In these years of exile, General Antonio Maceo has traveled ex- 
tensively, has mastered several languages, has studied the military 
theories, which he has already applied ; has attained an enviable de- 
gree of culture and writes in a most concise and elegant style. He 
is a self-made man; a self-made great man. His herculean figure has 
been the centre of attraction of this revolution ; around him the best 
families of Cuba fight ; he has been the scourge of the Spaniard, the 
support of the revolution, and the patriot army honors him. 

Generals Oalixto Garcia, Serafin Sanchez, Francisco Car- 
rillo and Jose Maria Rodriguez. 

Cuba has many other distinguished leaders, who, if the misfortunes 
of war should deprive her of the great commanders, would take their 
places and go on with the campaign where it was left by them. 
Garcia, Sanchez, Carrillo and Rodriguez are veterans of the last revo- 
tion and are identified with the present plans. Their names are a 
guarantee of fcheir devotion and a convincing proof that the families 
of position and respect are as much interested in the success of the 
war as the masses of the people. 

General Calixto Garcia, for seven years, to 1875, was the Chief 
of the Eastern Department ; under him, the Maceos and the expert 
General Rabi, learned the art of war. 

He was fond of large engagements and of attacking the important 



THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 53J 

towns. At a critical period of the revolution, by a series of rapid and 
succsssful operations around Holguin, Jiguani and Manzanillo, where 
he is the idol, he did a great deal to restore the morale to the forces 
Surprised and surrounded by a Spanish column, with only his escort, 
the victor of Los Melones fought desperately until he saw that he 
could not escape ; then he placed the muzzle of his revolver under his 
chin and discharged the last chamber — the bullet came out between 
the eyebrows. 

For many months he hung between life and death, but finally 
recovered. He was sent to Spain as a prisoner of war ; in 1879, after 
the peace, he came to New York City, from where he took a small 
expedition to Cuba in the hope of renewing the struggle. He arrived 
too late ; without any response he gave up, so as to save his few sur- 
viving companions. Banished again to Spain, he supported his family 
by giving lessons — his refined education alone saving him from 
hunger. A believer in Marti, he placed himself under his orders. 
Near the close of 1895, evading the Spanish authorities, he escaped to 
France, and from there came to this country. 

He Outlives Shipwreck. 

Various attempts were made to send him to the Cuban army; that 
of the " Hawkins," sunk by paid hands of Spain, which declared that 
General Garcia would never reach the Island. In the terrible ship- 
wreck, in which ten lives were sacrificed by Spanish criminality, the 
figure of the chief stood out magnificently, washed by the furious 
waves ; he stood on the bridge, tall, massive, with his fair face in its 
frame of silvery hair and beard, and in tones which were heard above 
the rumbling of the sea and the whistling wind, he said : " My boys, 
it is the same to perish here as there, it is for Cuba ! " 

But he was not to perish ; after another attempt, in which he was 
arrested, he arrived in Cuba on the 25th of March, with his eldest 
son by his side. 

General Serafin Sanchez is from Sancti Spiritus ; of portly 
appearance, of serene valor, an organizer, and a man of intelligence 
and education ; he is at the same time a man on whom the new 



532 THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 

republic can count for its definite order and progress. His Hie in 
its activities is an example of what all these soldiers will do when 
Cuba is free. Like some of the others, he became a planter first, and 
afterwards was employed in the cigar factories of Key West ; he did 
not dishonor himself by that; he preferred to earn his living rather 
than to receive it from his compatriots. In the prime of his life, from 
him, as well as from Carrillo and Rodriguez, much is to be expected 
in this war. 

Skillful Commanders. 

Carrillo and Rodriguez. — By an association of ideas easily ex- 
plained, it is difficult to speak of one without thinking of the other; 
yet the first was born in Remedios, and the other in Santiago. Be- 
sides being contemporaneous, their only resemblance, physically, is 
that they are both short of stature and wear a beard like Stonewall 
Jackson, in common with whom they have many traits. Carrillo is 
stout, with a round head, prematurely bald, a high forehead, soft blue 
eyes, a perfect nose, a small mouth, a pronounced blonde beard and a 
magnificent manly face. 

Mayia, as his friends call Rodriguez, has a long head, thick black 
hair and beard, tinged with white here and there ; the narrow fore- 
head broadens ; the gray eyes sparkle ; the nose is of a decided tem- 
per ; his body is thin, almost emaciated ; he walks painfully, his knee- 
cap was shattered by a bullet at the charge in which he covered him- 
self with laurels at Naranjo; he has never since recovered the full use 
of his leg; and he fought fou^ years in that condition, and when 
Gomez remonstrated that he could not bring with him an invalid, the 
subordinate hardly controlled himself, but said, sadly: " General, if 
you do not take me, I will die ; if you do not give me the means, I 
will go across in a boat." The General sent him as his personal 
representative when the preparations were being made; after the 
failure he returned to Santo Domingo, and landed finally in Cuba! 

Carrillo and Rodriguez are the best cavalry leaders of Cuba ; they 
are aggressive, honest, of the best military schools of Cuba ; they are 
adored by the rank and file. It is such men on whom the new 
generation counts for the final triumph; while they live, others will 



THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY 633 

try to imitate them, and as General Gomez, speaking of the death of 
Marti and Borrero, said truthfully: " Do not despair, many will have 
to fall; I and perhaps some of my lieutenants will not reach the end 
of the journey, but there will be plenty who will take our places and 
reach the goal of our ambition ! " 

Salvador Cisneros Betancourt. 

The " grand old man" of Cuba ! There is no bluer blood in Spain 
than his ; his estates, ruined now by confiscation and destruction, 
were once of the most extensive of the Island ; a Cisneros and a 
Quesada ceded to the Government the land on which is situated the 
port of Santa Cruz in Puerto Principe. But the ex-Marquis of Santa 
Lucia is nobler by his deeds than by his title and escutcheons. Of 
the seventy years he has lived, fifty have been devoted to the cause of 
liberty in his country. He came to Philadelphia when a boy and 
graduated as a Civil Engineer, the first in his class ; few equal him in 
mathematics. 

In the United States he learned to love — as all of us — the institu 
tions which give every one his due and foster the advancement of the 
people's interest. His mind, not brilliant, but a persistent, quiet and 
deep one, has been as steadfast in its convictions as his heart, 
generous to the point of prodigality. El Lugareno, his relative, 
Gaspar Betancourt Cisneros, who sowed the seeds in Puerto Principe, 
found in the young man an ardent devotee. 

Returning to his native city, he was the promoter of all that could 
advance the material, intellectual or political prosperity of his coun- 
trymen ; he founded radical newspapers, contributing sharp articles 
against the abuses of the authorities ; of the Lyceums he was a 
powerful factor ; of the fairs, where the improvement of the cattle 
industries and agricultural products was encouraged, he was one of 
the founders ; he was a benefactor. 

In every separatist movement he can be found until the present; 
his motto seems to be, If you fail, try again. On account of the 
attempts in 1848, he was banished; when he came back he conspired 
year after year, until, in 1 867, the work commenced to be shaped : 



534 THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 

again he wielded the pen. He created the Revolutionary Committee 
of Camaguey, of which he was the moving spirit. He traveled from 
place to place bringing together the conspirators, and when on the 
4th of November, 1868, Camaguey answered the call, the Marquis 
led the seventy-two young men who first defied the Government. 

He is not a soldier, and yet as a member of the Assembly, as Presi- 
dent of the Republic, he has gone into the thickest of the fight; col- 
lecting the arms left by the enemy, or picking up and caring for the 
wounded ; it is unknown that he has ever shot a cartridge ; he has 
the highest valor ; without firing he receives with imperturbable cool- 
ness the enemy's fusillade ; he was wounded in the arm in the attack 

of Pinto. 

A Wise Statesman. 

But if he is not a military chief, he is one of the corner-stones of 
the Republic ; for he jealously provides that the civil power shall 
have its place in the embryo constitution of Cuba. In the last revo- 
lution, as in this, he insisted on having the law paramount to the 
sword ; he is conducting the Ship of State so that in the future there 
can never be dictators in the Island or military oligarchies, but a real 
democracy and a republic in fact, and not in name only. 

He is inflexible. After the peace he came to this country ; his 
life was a hard fight against misery ; stooped already by hardships 
and age, he could be seen in summer with his winter coat from 
which he had removed the lining; he would exist on one meal a day, 
and not very nutritious at that, but he was too proud to accept 
charity, not because of himself, but because of his Cuba! 

In those days of despair, when only a few would meet in a lowly 
hall to honor the memories of the heroes, he used to take me, a child 
then, — he who had lost all his children — and would place me by his 
side on the wooden benches, and his bony hands would pat me 
kindly on the shoulders, and he would say in his peculiar voice : 
" Hear, do not allow the happiness of the American people and their 
liberty which you enjoy, make you forget that you do not deserve 
them until you have acquired them by your own effort; hear well 
and be a Cuban." 



THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 535 

When he went back to Puerto Principe, after the last hopes of a new 
uprising had failed in 1885, the Marquis (that is the way we affection- 
ately called him in the army) gave up his magnificent house, now 
the Spanish Casino; divided into colonies his estates in Las Minas 
for the use of the veterans, would not enter any political party, and 
when a negro captain died, a Cuban soldier noted for his devotion 
and gallantry, and it was fitting that he should have a tomb worthy 
of his merits, it was the carriage of Cisneros that was at the head of 
the funeral ; he helped to place the casket of the humble negro by the 
side of those of his titled ancestors, in the niche of the Marquises of 
Santa Lucia! 

When, in 1893, he was written to, he answered that they could 
always count upon Camaguey, but that there were no arms. This 
was the reason why this province did not respond until June, and 
then it was with machetes only, and very few cartridges. The vener- 
able Marquis was the first to unfurl again the flag in Puerto Principe. 

The Government Well Organized. 

Devoting all his energies to the formation of the Civil Government, 
postponed on account of the death of Jose Marti, delegates from all 
the provinces met at Jimaguayu under his chairmanship, and drew 
the provisional constitution ; while at the same time, leaving the 
military all liberty of action, it subordinates it to the civil delegates 
of the people, who elect all the officers of the Republic for two years. 

An indefatigable organizer, he has extended the civil machinery all 
over the portions of the Island in control of the Cubans; by a system 
of prefectures regulated by wise rules, the army always finds horses 
and food on its marches ; those who do not bear arms are employed 
in farming and manufacturing ; a complete system of post-offices is 
in operation throughout the Island; taxes are collected ; civil mar- 
riage determines the relations of the sexes ; the citizen is taught to 
respect the civil functionaries, and to see them respected by the 
military chiefs, and while the sword and the torch destroy and purify 
the existing germs of corruption and colonial despotism, the country 
is being prepared for a natural evolution into the life of a modern and 



536 THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 

orderly nation, without the necessity of passing through periods of 
struggle and doubt, of disquiet, or temporary anarchy. 

It is well to do away with the rotten elements, but it is the work 
of the statesman to put in their place the solid and healthy founda- 
tions for the future. Such is the ambition and endeavor of the Presi- 
dent of the Provisional Government of Cuba, Salvador Cisneros 

Betancourt. 

Tomas Estrada Palma. 

The Cuban Revolution is not only fought in Cuba; it is fought all 
over the world, and especially in the United States. The Spanish 
domination in America would cease the day when Madrid would be 
cut off from Havana; on the supply of arms and ammunition which 
reaches the patriots, depends the rapid termination of the unequal 
war. The representative of the Cuban Republic abroad is the col- 
laborator of most importance perhaps. 

Spain must be met wherever she has her agents ; her lies and 
detractions, propagated in press and book to dishonor the Cuban 
cause, must be answered ; her detectives must be fooled, and war 
material, a legitimate merchandise, must be sent to Cuba, to the 
thousands of men who are clamoring for it; to those patriots who 
shed tears when they see that one ship has not brought enough for 
all. The duel between Spain and Cuba is also an economic war; 
wherever and whenever Spain has to spend her last millions, there 
the battle is being waged. Every day that passes is a victory won 
by the Cubans, for it represents so many hundred thousands of 
dollars to the Royal Treasury, which Spain must borrow. 

Her children, she does not mind if they are killed; she can replace 
them from the poor peasantry of her deserted and impoverished 
fields ; but a dollar — a dollar is one more piled to her enormous 
debt ; with every one spent it is harder to get the loan of another. 
So every spy, every cable, every secret service abroad, is an uncon- 
scious contributor to the bankruptcy of Spain, and Cuba's independ- 
ence. This is a duel in which the Spaniards, to win, must spend 
money, and the Cubans use their brains. 

No better man could have been chosen by the Cubans abroad f.o 



THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 53T 

succeed Jose Marti, than the tried patriot, Tomas Estrada Pal ma. 
This selection was so ratified by the unanimous appointment he 
received from the Constituent Assembly, as Delegate Plenipotentiary 
of the Cuban Republic in foreign countries ; that is to say, the Gov- 
ernment gave him the amplest powers. Only on a man of the history 
of Palma could such a confidence be conferred; but the Cubans who 
knew well his past history, and the Americans who have learned to 
love him in Central Valley, New York, are proud and satisfied that 
the selection should have fallen on him. 

Palma unites with the fervor of the first apostles of Cuban liberty 
— of whom he was one — the mature deliberation of the man who by 
experience knows why the last revolution did not succeed ; and his 
labor has been directed to see that no division may arise between the 
Cubans who are fighting in the field and the Cubans abroad, who 
should be an auxiliary wing of the army of liberation ; and he has 
with consummate skill softened the natural antagonisms among men, 
overcome difficulties and brought together all the Cubans to a com- 
mon labor. While there existst his unior;, equal to the one in the 
ranks, the Cuban cause is invincible. While Tomas Estrada Palma 
remains in his present position, his name is the guarantee of such 

union. 

A Self-sacrificing Patriot. 

The disinterestedness with which he serves his country in this 
epoch is more to be admired than when he abandoned, young then, 
his vast estate ; when he made his house the meeting-place for the 
conspirators ; when he, the only son and heir, gave up all for his 
Cuba. And he did not only suffer in those years when the fortitude 
of constitutions, not as frail as his, was vanquished by the miseries of 
war, but he received the crudest of wounds. 

Since then there is a tinge of sadness in his eyes. His mother 
was, for his sake, a victim of Spanish brutality ; she could not part 
from the only consolation of her life; she followed him to the rebel 
woods ; sick and an invalid she was made a prisoner ; her captors 
dragged the unfortunate woman through the road inhumanly ; she 
died of their ill-treatment ! 



538 THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 

Tomas Estrada for many a month bowed his head in silent despair; 
but when Spanish soldiers were captured, he was the first to intercede 
in their behalf; he would not insult his mother's saintly memory, her 
virtue, her martyrdom, by revenge. They say that to-day the vener- 
able patrician keeps next to his heart a little wallet, with relics of his 
mother's love, his treasures ; when he needs encouragement, he thinks 
of her ; he reverently kisses the time-worn trinkets ; he sheds tears 
and is comforted and strengthened. 

Independence First, then Peace. 

With the same constancy Palma loves his Cuba ; had he not oeen 
captured, perhaps the Spaniards never would have had a chance to 
present propositions of peace; it was this little man, who, previous to 
his Presidency, when Secretary of State, drew the " Sportuno decree," 
re-enacted by Marti and Gomez, incorporated in another form in Arti- 
cle X. of the present Constitution : " No peace but on the basis of 
independence." Inflexible in its compliance, a relative of his was 
the first to suffer its consequences, for bringing other propositions ; 
he was tried and executed ; with Palma there are no relatives or 
influences that can make him waver ; his conscience is his only 
counsellor. 

Sent to Spain, he was confined in a castle until the end of the war. 
Palma refused all aid that the Government offered him ; when the 
tensus was being taken he was asked his occupation. " President of 
/he Republic of Cuba," he answered proudly ; thrice, and each time 
to a higher officer, the prisoner answered, " President of the Republic 
of Cuba." They could not persuade him to change his reply, either 
by coaxing or threats ! While the Prime Minister at Madrid was 
expecting him to confer as to the best way of dealing with separatism 
in the Island, and to offer him a fine position in the Cuban adrr^is- 
tration, Tomas Estrada Palma was crossing the frontier to i-i^nce in 
a third-class coach, with hardly enough money to reach Paris. 

In Honduras, where he found the affectionate companion of his 
home, he was made Postmaster-General of the Republic, and com- 
menced his pedagogic career, to which he was, by his kindness and 



THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 53$ 

patience, more inclined than to the tricks and aggressiveness of the 
profession of the law. 

By dint of economy and perseverance he realized finally his dream: 
the establishment of a school for Spanish Americans and Cuban 
children in the United States, where they would be educated in the 
midst of liberty, and see how the people govern themselves; would 
be taught letters, as well as the love for agricultural work, and where 
they would not lose their home customs or their veneration for the 
fatherland. 

To contemplate him there in the picturesque valley, with the 
mountains surrounding it, in his spacious and neat home, with his 
pupils, to whom he is an elder brother, rising with the sun, overseeing 
the tasks of his employees, alert, benevolent, advising with paternal 
solicitude, teaching with amiability and clearness, nursing his wards 
and caring for them with as much interest as for his own dear ones, 
is to believe in the existence in this world of virtue and perfection. 

No Glory but that of Sacrifice. 

And from this model home, from his school, from his family that 
he adores, from his orchards, from his cows, from his lake, from tran- 
quillity and happiness, his countrymen called him to enter the turmoil 
of revolutionary agitation, to become the bull's eye of the enemy, to 
worry, to incessant work night and. day, to the grave responsibilities 
of a position fraught with unavoidable difficulties and with no glory 
but that of sacrifice. Estrada Palma accepted it, and he did it con- 
scious of the obstacles in the way, of the hard road which he had to 
travel. But could it be worse than the one which led his friend Marti 
to martyrdom and the one of his sweet, magnanimous mother ? 

For the first days he groped his way as if studying the situation; 
the office full of envious people was not the quiet school-room with 
the smiles of his scholars; the buzz of the city, the nervous life, the 
unrest, the agitation took him by surprise ; but his wonderful adapt- 
ability vanquished everything; soon he had mastered the details of 
the vast and complicated labor ; he was again not the schoolmaster, 
but the same executive officer of twenty years ago ! 



540 THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 

An able judge of men, his initial steps were to carefully choose his 
coadjutors. In Benjamin Guerra, he found a treasurer of that integ- 
rity which is Palma's essential requisite ; struggling people are always 
poor, but they have sufficient if their savings are defended ; and not 
one cent of Cuba's money is spent but in forwarding its cause. 
Guerra's face has much of the determination of the mastiff, and he 
watches the money of the patriots with such tact and fidelity that he 
has been repeatedly elected unanimously to his high position of trust 
Benjamin J. Guerra is besides a man of cool and wise counsel, whose 
opinions carry weight, not only by his patriotic history, but by the 
moderation and conservatism of his tendencies. 

All in the Service of Liberty. 

Mr. Palma has also had the happy faculty of not removing those 
who have done good service or shown themselves fitted for their 
positions. Horatio S. Rubens had been the legal adviser of Marti, 
who implicitly confided in the young lawyer ; Palma kept him by his 
side. In this revolution the Americans have not as yet occupied in 
the Cuban Army the commands which Jordan, Reeves, Johnston and 
Humphries did in the last; but this American, Rubens, has done so 
much for the success of the independence of the Island, that his 
name, cherished by Generals, cheered by the soldiers, dear to the 
Cubans abroad, will occupy one of the most brilliant pages in the 
history of Cuba. He has given up his future for liberty ; he has 
placed his legal talent at the service of the patriots. 

Emileo Nunez, who has well earned his title of General, by his 
successful landing of arms in Cuba ; Joaquin Castillo, who has helped 
him ; Dr. Juan Guiteras, a scientific glory of America and a proved 
patriot, have all contributed to Palma's success. Palma has accom- 
plished more than his predecessors in 1868-78; he has landed more 
cargoes of war material ; he has floated a loan, aided by Ponce de 
Leon, Zaldo, Zayas, active and distinguished Cubans ; and he has 
obtained from the American people, through both Houses of Con- 
gress, the declaration of sympathy, its opinion that the Cubans are 



THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 541 

entitled to belligerency, and that the United States desire the inde- 
^"'^ence of the Island. 

What more could be expected in a year ? And Tomas Estrada 
**alma has done this in his quiet, unassuming way, without flattering 
anybody, without the dignity of his country suffering. The follow- 
ing address will give an idea of the stand Palma has taken in this 
revolution : 

" To the People of the United States : 

" The persistency with which the American press has, during the 
last few days, been treating of supposed administrative reforms to be 
introduced in Cuba by the Government of Spain compels me to 
request the publication of the following declarations which I make in 
behalf of my Government, of the army of liberation of Cuba, and of 
the Cuban Revolutionary Party. 

Not Reforms but Independence. 

" The question of the proposed reforms is not a matter which at 
all concerns those who have already established an independent gov- 
ernment in Cuba and have resolved to shrink from no sacrifice of 
nroperty or life in order to emancipate the whole Island from the 
Spanish yoke. If the Spanish residents of the Island, who are 
favored by the Spanish Government with all sorts of privileges and 
monopolies, and if the handful of Cubans, too pusillanimous or too 
proud to acknowledge their error, or a few foreigners guided only by 
selfish interests, are satisfied that Cuba should remain under Spanish 
dominatirn, we, who fight under the flag of the solitary star, we, who 
already constitute the Republic of Cuba, and belong to a free people 
with its own Government and its own laws, are firmly resolved to 
listen to no compromise and to treat with Spain on the basis of 
absolute independence for Cuba. 

' If Spain has power to exterminate us, then let her convert the 
Island into a vast cemetery ; if she has not, and wishes to terminate 
the war before the whole country is reduced to ashes, then let her 
^.dopt the only measure that will put an end to it and recognize our 



542 THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 

independence. Spain must know by this time that while there is a 
single living Cuban with dignity — and there are many thousands 
of them — there will not be peace in Cuba, nor even the hope of it. 

"All good causes must finally triumph, and ours is a good cause. 
It is the cause of justice treated with contempt, of right suppressed 
by force, and of the dignity of a people offended to the last degree. 

" We Cubans have a thousandfold more reason in our endeavors to 
free ourselves from the Spanish yoke than the people of the thirteen 
colonies had when, in 1776, they rose in arms against the British 
Government. 

The American Revolution and the Cuban. 

"The people of these colonies were in full enjoyment of all the 
rights of man ; they had liberty of conscience, freedom of speech, 
liberty of the press, the right of public meeting, and the right of free 
locomotion ; they elected those who governed them, they made their 
own laws, and, in fact, enjoyed the blessings of self-government. 
They were not under the sway of a Captain-General with arbitrary 
powers, who, at his will, could imprison them, deport them to penal 
colonies, or order their execution, even without the semblance of a 
court-martial. They did not have to pay a permanent army and 
navy that they might be kept in subjection, nor to feed a swarm of 
hungry employees yearly sent over from the metropolis, to prey upon 
the country. 

"They were never subjected to a stupid and crushing customs 
tariff which compelled them to go to the home markets for millions 
of merchandise annually which they could buy much cheaper else- 
where ; they were never compelled to cover a budget of $26,000,000 
or $30,000,000 a year without the consent of the taxpayers, and for 
the purpose of defraying the expenses of the army and navy of the 
oppressor, to pay the salaries of thousands of worthless European 
employees, the whole interest on a debt not incurred by the colony, 
and other expenditures from which the Island received no benefit 
whatever; for out of all those millions only the paltry sum o' 
$700,000 was apparently applied for works of internal improvement 



THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 543 

and one-half of which invariably went into the pockets of the Spanish 
employees. 

" We have thrown ourselves into the struggle advisedly and 
deliberately; we knew what we would have to face, and we decided 
unflinchingly to persevere until we should emancipate ourselves from 
the Spanish Government. And we know that we are able to do it, 
as we know that we are competent to govern ourselves. 

Capable of Managing Organizations. 

" Among other proofs which could be adduced of the capacity of 
the Cuban white and colored to rule themselves is the strong organi- 
zation of the Cuban revolutionary party in America. It is composed 
of more than 20,000 Cubans living in different countries of the New 
World, and formed into clubs, the members of which yearly elect 
their leader. This organization has an existence of over five years, 
during which every member has strictly discharged his duties, has 
respected, without any interruption, the regulations, and obeyed the 
elected delegate loyally and faithfully. Among the members of the 
clubs there are several Spaniards, who enjoy the same rights as the 
Cubans, and who live with them in fraternal harmony. 

" This fact, and those of the many Spaniards incorporated into our 
army, fully demonstrate that our revolution is not the result of 
personal hatred, but an uprising inspired only by the natural love 
of liberty and free institutions. The war in Cuba has for its only 
object the overthrow of Spanish power, and to establish an inde- 
pendent republic, under whose beneficent laws the Spaniards may 
continue to live side by side with the Cubans as members of the same 
community and citizens of the same nation. This is our programme, 
and we strictly adhere to it. 

" The revolution is powerful and deeply rooted in the hearts of the 
Cuban people, and there is no Spanish power— no power in the world 
—that can stop its march. The war, since General Weyler took 
command of the Spanish army, has assumed a cruel character; his 
troops shoot the Cuban prisoners, pursue and kill the sick and 
wounded, assassinate the unarmed, and burn their houses. The 



544 THE FOUNDERS OF CUBAN LIBERTY. 

Cuban troops, on their part, destroy, as a war measure, the machinery 
and buildings of the sugar plantations, and are firmly resolved not to 
leave one stone upon another during their campaign. 

" Let those who can put an end to this war reflect that our liberty 
is being gained with the blood of thousands of Cuban victims, among 
whom is numbered Jose Marti, the apostle and martyr of our revo- 
lution. Let them consider that, before the sacred memory of this 
new redeemer, there is not a single Cuban who will withdraw from 
the work of emancipation without feeling ashamed of abandoning 
the flag which, on the 24th of February, was raised by the beloved 
master. 

" It is time for the Cuban people to satisfy their just desire for a 
place among the free nations of the world, and let them not be accused 
if, to accomplish their noble purpose, they are obliged to reduce to 
ashes the Cuban land. T. Estrada Palma." 

Like Franklin, Palma puts his faith in the justice of his cause rather 
than in the pomp of language, or on the show of dress. He always 
dresses in black ; he uses neither the silk hat nor the evening dress ; 
he wears no jewels ; his fourteen-year old boy is by his side, that he 
may accompany him ; he always finds time, as did Lord Nelson in 
the midst of the perils of the sea and vicissitudes of combat, to write 
to his lady; every night he kisses the sacred wallet! 

Noble and pure soul ! Of such are the founders of Cuba's liberty. 

Gonzalo de Quesada. 



Appendix. 



Latest Events in the Cuban Revolution, including 
Military Operations, Battles, Secret Expedi- 
tions and Arrests of American Citizens. 

THE next event of importance following the history of the Cuban 
conflict narrated in the first part of this volume, was the arrest 
at Havana of Rev. Alberto J. Diaz, a Baptist missionary and a citizen 
of the United States. Subsequently, at a public meeting in Philadel- 
phia, Mr. Diaz told a dramatic story of escape from military death in 
Cuba, of the cunning and brutality of the Spanish General Wcyler 
and his fear of the United States. 

Dr. Diaz and his brother were imprisoned in Cuba for preaching 
civil and religious liberty, and were only saved from death by the 
services of a member of his church disguised as a Spanish sentry. In 
Havana the members of the church, founded under the auspices of 
the Southern Baptist Missionary Society, were divided in sympathy 
between the Spanish and insurgents. Dr. Diaz preached true liberty 
to both factions alike, and although often warned against it he per- 
sisted in expounding the doctrines of liberty and claimed the right 
of uttering his honest sentiments. 

Said he, " About three o'clock one morning I was aroused by a 
knock at the door of my house, and when I opened it I saw some 
fifty or sixty Spanish soldiers, with their guns leveled at me. I quickly 
shut the door and talked through it. The captain said he must search 
the house, and I consented to let three men come in. They spent 
seven hours looking through two trunks full of sermons and other 
papers, and when the search was completed they had found no incrimi. 
nating documents." 

86 ^ 5 



546 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

Not notified, the soldiers led Dr. Diaz and his brother away to the 
prison cell in the now famous Morro Castle. They were placed face 
to a wall with sentinels all about them. For twenty-four hours they 
sat there without eating, for they were afraid to eat lest their food had 
been poisoned, as it had often been before. Finding that they did 
not eat, the soldiers allowed the doctor's wife to send in their meals. 

One day Dr. Diaz saw two black coffins and saw all arrangements 
for his execution and supposed that day was his last on earth. Feel 
ing that death was so near he laid aside prison rules and talked with 
his brother, and the two men sang hymns until they lay down for 
what they believed would be their last sleep. 

A Secret Telegram. 

" But," says Dr. Diaz, " I was not quite asleep when I was startled 
by some one kissing my hand. I started up, but a finger was laid on 
my lips as a signal for quiet. A soldier was by my side sobbing bit- 
terly. At last he whispered, ' Don't you know me ? I belong to 
your church.' " Bending low the Doctor recognized the soldier, who 
then said : "You are to die to-morrow, is there anything I can do?" 
Dr. Diaz asked for pencil and paper and wrote a telegram, " Diaz in 
jail ; about to be executed," and directed it to the President of the 
Southern Baptist Missionary Society, in Atlanta. The sentry promised 
to smuggle the telegram through, and he succeeded. Just what reply 
was received Dr. Diaz did not say, but following the receipt of the 
message the prisoners were allowed everything but their liberty. 

Dr. Diaz wrote another telegram to Secretary of State Olney, stat- 
ing the conditions of his imprisonment, and that he was an American 
citizen, but it was returned and reported that Weyler had said : " If 
that telegram is sent it will involve us in war with the United States." 

Dr. Diaz told the messenger the message must be smuggled over 
to Key West. Soldiers were everywhere, and the messenger retreated, 
but later gave the telegram to two men who were not known, and 
they were allowed to go on board the steamer. The messenger 
wanted to send a message of his own and went on board the boat atsJ 
was searched, but nothing found on him. When the boat was out ** 



LATEST EVENTS IN CURA. 547 

sight he told the Spaniards that the message was on the steamer 
bound for Key West. 

The news was carried to General Weyler, who immediately antici- 
pated the demand and telegraphed to Washington : " Diaz released." 
Forthwith Dr. Diaz was released and went directly to his church, 
where a monster prayer-meeting was held. The next day General 
Weyler ordered Diaz, his brother and family to leave Cuba on the 
next steamer. Dr. Diaz could not leave and went fishing until the 
boat left and then had to wait for three days. By this time all ar- 
rangements were completed and the whole family left for the United 
States. The story created great interest and the congregation con- 
gratulated him on his marvelous escape from death. 

General Lee Sent to Cuba. 

In April, 1896, a change of consuls at Havana excited comment. 
The appointment of General Fitzhugh Lee to succeed Consul General 
Williams, was regarded by Americans as well as by the authorities at 
the Palace, as an adroit way of sending a military commissioner from 
the States to Cuba. When there was an intimation that Mr. Cleve- 
land contemplated sending a commissioner to learn officially what 
was going on, the officials at Madrid said very plainly that no military 
or other commission would be accepted by them, or permitted to pry 
into affairs in Cuba. There was, therefore, some curiosity as to how 
General Lee would be received, and as to what facilities would be 
accorded him for learning what was transpiring outside of the city of 
Havana. The American residents of Havana welcomed General Lee 
with open arms. The following is a summing up of the situation on 
May 1st, by a press correspondent: 

" Three conclusions force themselves upon me as the result of 
observation of the progress of the revolution in Cuba. The insurgents 
are making a remarkably good fight. Spain has demonstrated her 
inability to put them down, and Cuba is surely slipping away from 
Spain. When I left Havana a week ago, the insurrection was more 
formidable, and apparently more promising of success, than at any 
time in the fourteen months since the Cubans rose against Spain. 



548 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

" Before the arrival of General Weyler, correspondents were per« 
mitted to accompany Spanish columns. Since the enemy has grown 
from scattered bands to organized and fairly-well armed and drilled 
columns it is a matter of life and death for a correspondent to penetrate 
the rebel lines. I have had experience with four Captains-General — 
Calleja, Campos, Marin and Weyler. The last is the only one of them 
who made the life of a war correspondent burdensome. Polite in his 
reception of all Americans, yet he had a way of impressing upon a 
correspondent, without putting it into words, that it would conduce 
to his personal safety to make a practice of reporting nothing but 
Spanish official news. 

" As these fail to mention a single insurgent success from the be- 
ginning, and are a record of many Spanish victories, which exist on 
paper only, the correspondent who accepts them at face value beguiles 
his readers. If the affair at Guatao was a battle and not a butchery, 
why were two correspondents thrown into Morro Castle, charged with 
having visited the place, which is only twelve miles from Havana? 
Every effort is made to keep the world in darkness as to what is being 
done in Cuba. Every cable despatch is carefully edited before it can 
be transmitted. Everything unfavorable to Spain or favorable to the 
Cuban cause is eliminated. The mails are searched to prevent news- 
paper correspondence being sent off. But with all these precautions 
the truth cannot be suppressed. 

Spain's Immense Army. 

"Spain has sent 140,000 regulars and 60,000 volunteers have been 
raised in h\e cities of the Island. The latter are used almost entirely 
for home defence. Of the regulars approximately 25,000 have suc- 
cumbed to bullets and disease during the year, 15,000 are in the hos- 
pitals or have been relieved from duty, and about 100,000 are available 
for active operations. 

"The establishment of the latest trocha, that between Mariel and 
Majana, absorbs 30,000 regulars for the defence of the line. There 
are about 10,000 regulars divided into flying columns of 1,500 to 2,000 
men sach, operating aggressively against Maceo just west of the trocha 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 549 

in Pinar del Rio, and in all of the other provinces there arc not more 
than 15,000 troops in the field against the enemy. 

" Gomez, Lacret, Jose Maceo, Calixto Garcia and other insurgent 
leaders with large forces are unopposed. The number of insurgents 
under arms is now fully 45,000. Spaniards say that Cubans will not 
fight, but I have seen many trainloads of wounded Spanish soldiers 
brought into Havana and other cities, and American planters declare 
that the Cubans are reckless under fire. 

" The entire interior of the Island is either in actual possession of 
insurgents or is in sympathy with them. In the large cities are many 
men who are thoroughly in sympathy with the insurgent cause. In 
the early days of tho war the better class of Cubans declared the 
rising to be premature. Within three months there has been a deci- 
ded change of opinion. Sons of leading families, and in some cases, 
heads of families themselves, have joined the insurgents. A gentle- 
man, who owns a sugar plantation worth $2,000,000, said to me re- 
cently that he had become convinced that Cuba must be free or 
annexed to the United States, or every planter on the Island would 

be ruined 

Cruelty :>f the Spanish Commanders. 

" The rabid Spaniards are the ones who forced the recall of General 
Martinez Campos. They have recently attacked General VVeyler, 
accusing him of being as lenient as Campos. The General has been 
between two fires ever since he took command. He has endeavored 
to satisfy Spaniards and at the same time avoid bringing down the 
wrath of the United States on his head. He has succeeded in both 

fairly well." 

The correspondent then gives details of acts of cruelty charged 
against Spanish commanders which have been reported from time to 
time. He continues : 

"The ultra-Spaniards urge General Weyler to do more of this kind 
of work. They declare without hesitancy that all Cubans should be 
exterminated. They urge Spanish merchants to discharge their 
Cuban clerks and employ Spaniards. They look upon Cuba as a 
place to be plucked, and would drive every native from the Island and 



550 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

confiscate his property for themselves. These Spaniards are the 
dominant faction at present, but they are only a small minority in 
Cuba. The more liberal Spaniards and those with property interests 
at stake have different views." 

The reader will be interested in a detailed account of the capture 
of the filibustering schooner " Competitor " by a Spanish gunboat. 
Several aboard the captured vessel claimed American citizenship, and 
among them were those who declared they were on lawful business 
and were not in any sense aiding the insurgents. 

General Weyler was much pleased at the capture. He embraced 
Commander Butron, of the gunboat "Mensagera," and presented him 
with the cross Maria Cristina. Commander Butron said the papers 
seized were very valuable. Among them were letters to Maceo, cir- 
culars, many .lags and other things besides the arms. The expedi- 
tion started three times from Key West. Dr. Vedia, the Key West 
newspaper correspondent, was on board in all the attempts, and once 
Was kept at sea twenty days. 

Story of the Capture. 

Commander Butron's story of the capture is as follows : " The 
Mensagera' was directed to watch the coast between Cayo Julia and 
Morrillo, about one hundred miles. It was heard on the afternoon of 
April 25, that a suspicious schooner had been seen near Quebrados de 
Uvas. The gunboat followed and found the ' Competitor.' The 
usual signals were made, but the schooner tried to get closer in 
shore so as to land a rapid fire-gun. 

"The 'Mensagera 'was then moved forward and fired a shot, which 
struck the schooner and exploded a box of cartridges which the 
men were trying to take ashore. Several occupants of the schooner 
became alarmed, and threw themselves into the water, fearing an ex- 
plosion of dynamite. The gunboat's crew seized rifles and began 
shooting, killing three men. Several others reached shore. 

" Three men were aboard the schooner when it was overhauled, 
and they surrendered without resistance. Among them was Owen 
Milton, editor of the Key West Mosquito. Sailors were sent ashore 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 551 

to capture the arms landed. In a skirmish two men, supposed to be 
filibusters, and a horse were killed. They secured several abandoned 
cases of cartridges. A body of insurgents had come to watch the 
landing of the boat's crew. The ' Mensagera' came to Havana with 
the arms and prisoners, who were very seasick. The schooner was 
towed to Havana by the gunboat ' Vicente Yanez.' It is regarded as 
an object of great curiosity by the crowds. It had the Spanish flag 
floating when captured. It is a neat, strong boat, and looks fast. 
One of the prisoners captured steadily refuses to give his name." 

Trial of the Prisoners. 

A despatch from Havana under date of May 8th, was as follows : 

" The court opened at the Arsenal. The prisoners were Alfredo 
Laborde, born in New Orleans ; Owen Milton, of Kansas ; William 
Kinlea, an Englishman, and Elias Vedia and Teodoro Dela Maza, 
both Cubans. Captain Ruiz acted as president of the court, which 
consisted of nine other military and naval officers. The trial of the 
five filibusters captured aboard the ' Competitor ' was proceeded with 
against the formal protest presented by Consul General Williams, 
who declared that the trial was illegal and in violation of the treaty 
between Spain and the United States. 

" The prisoners were not served with a copy of the charges against 
them and were not allowed to select their own counsel, but were 
represented by a naval officer appointed by the government. They 
were not permited to call witnesses for their defence, the prosecution 
calling all the witnesses. Owen Milton, of Kansas, testified through 
an interpreter that he came on the expedition only in order to corres- 
pond for a newspaper. William Kinlea, when called, was in his 
shirt sleeves. He arose and said in English, ' I do not recognize 
your authority and appeal for protection to the American and English 
consuls.' " 

A few days later it was announced from Madrid that the Spanish 
and American Governments had arrived at an amicable understanding 
regarding the trial of the prisoners, who would be tried again, this 
time by a civil court under the provisions of the existing treaties 



552 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

between the two countries. The prompt action of our Government 
undoubtedly saved the lives of several, if not all, of the prisoners. 
Early in May the Spaniards succeeded in capturing Cacarajicara, 
Maceo's fort in the western mountains, being led by General Inclan. 
The insurgents made an attack upon the Spanish artillerymen with 
their machetes, but were driven back from the cannon forty feet by a 
wall of troops. A tall, bearded man, stick in hand, urged the insur- 
gents to fall on the Spaniards, but they refused and retreated. 

Hand to Hand Fighting. 

A bayonet charge was then ordered and the soldiers patriotically 
rushed into the ditch, driving out the insurgents. One of those who 
defended the fort and who fled with the others was a woman. The 
defence is said to have been conducted by Maceo, Socarras and 
Quintin Bandera. The return march was very difficult, the enemy 
being scattered all through the hills and firing from every point. 
The progress was slow on account of the wounded soldiers. The 
official report says 2,000 Spanish and 6,000 to 8,000 insurgents were 
engaged in all. Socarras is said to have been gravely wounded in 
the face. A ball struck Pilar Rojas in the stomach, seriously 
wounding him. General Inclan made an address, thanking his 
soldiers for their valor, which, he said, " deserves a place in the best 
pages of Spanish history." 

The situation in Cuba in the middle of July is fully stated by a 
press correspondent, who furnished, among other accounts of impor- 
tant events, the details of the death of General Jose Maceo, brother of 
the famous General Antonio Maceo, and himself a dashing leader 
scarcely less renowned than his illustrious brother. 

" I went out," says the correspondent, " with General Agustin 
Cebreco on June 20, and arrived the next day at the Aguacate estate 
by theCauto River, where we pitched our camp. We started out the 
next day and marched to San Luis, where we met General Jose 
Maceo's forces, who were returning from conveying the war material 
landed from the steamer ' Three Friends.' 

" I met Colonel Rafael Portuondo, who was the leader of the expe- 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 553 

dition. It was the largest ever brought to Cuba, and according to 
Portuondo himself there were seventy men. The expedition left 
Jacksonville on the 23d of May, and consisted of the following : — 
1,052 rifles, 24 cases of hardware, 200 suits of clothes, 200 ham- 
mocks, 525,000 cartridges, 2 rapid-fire guns, 800 shells, 1,000 dyna- 
mite shells, 1,000,000 dynamite caps and one ton of medical stores, 
presented to the Cubans by an American wholesale drug firm. There 
was enough morphine and quinine for an army. There were also 
200 Mauser rifles of French make, which have a longer range than 
the German gun. 

" The ' Three Friends ' effected a landing at a place called Bacunao, 
between Santiago de Cuba and Guanbanamo on May 30, at dawn. 
It took two and a half hours to send everything ashore ; it took 
three hours more to hide it in a place of safety. Members of the 
expedition then started out in search of the Cuban forces, but none 
were found in the neighborhood until six days later. 

"Jose Maceo and 2,000 men passed near the place and were noti- 
fied of the landing Colonel Portuondo is a lawyer of Santiago de 
Cuba, who rose in arms last February. He was elected later Secre- 
tary of Foreign Relations and was afterward sent by the government 
on a mission to Washington. He has been successful in all his un- 
dertakings. 

Some Incidents of the March. 

" The day before we met Jose Maceo, 250 of his men met 102 
Spaniards and fought them, killing twenty-five of their number and 
capturing twenty-six horses. On June 23, 1 went with 1,800 men of 
Maceo and Cebreco's commands to forage in the Spanish cultivated 
zone near the Santa Anna estate. The soldiers in the fort at this 
place fled from the Cubans when they approached. Not one shot 
was fired at us. We also visited a coffee plantation owned by a 
Frenchman named Benjamin Cagnet, who tried to be friendly toward 
us and render us some assistance. 

" We encamped that night in the town of Cauto Abajo, which is 
now in ashes. On June 24th, St. John's Day, Jose Maceo's army 
had marched through the camp, where the following generals had 



554 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

pitched their tents : — Agustin Cebreco, Periquito Perez, Serafin San- 
chez, Matias Vegas and Higinio Vasquez. We started for Canasta 
the next day, where a meeting was to take place between the Cuban 
forces from the Western and Eastern departments. The place is on 
the Cauto River, where there is plenty to eat and drink for men and 

horses. 

Successful Assault on a Gunboat. 

" The condition of the roads was so bad on going to the meeting 
place that many horses were left stuck in the mud and others died 
from exhaustion. The mules are more suitable for the Cuban roads 
in the rainy season. Maceo employed three hundred mules in trans- 
porting Portuondo's expedition. June 26 we reached Canasta, after 
five hours' march from San Felipe, where we encamped last night. 
Here we met Major General Jesus Rabi, with 1,700 men, cavalry and 
infantry. He had been waiting for us one day. The following day 
all the troops were formed on parade and the arms and ammunition 
were distributed among them. 

" General Rabi told me some interesting details about the capture 
of the gunboat ' Belico ' by General Rios. The Spanish gunboat was 
steaming up the Cauto River, carrying provisions and ammunition for 
the garrison in Bayamo. The Cubans in large numbers assaulted 
the gunboat in the narrowest part of the river and wounded the com- 
mander in the breast. He surrendered, and the crew were made 
prisoners. The captain was afterward released, and is now nursing 
his wound in Bayamo. 

" Rabi is a tall, well-built man, in complexion like an Arab. His 
beard, like his hair, jet black. He is reputed as a brave and dashing 
officer. He is liked by all who come in contact with him. He is a 
veteran of the Ten Years' War, and is so kind in nature that all the 
Spaniards who desert the Spanish ranks seek him. He has more 
than five hundred Spaniards in his ranks. He rose in arms in Feb- 
ruary last with 300 men in his native place, Santa Rita, Santiago 
province. 

" On the same day he entered Jiguani and captured Baire, where his 
ranks swelled to three thousand men. At Cacao he defeated the 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 555 

Spaniards and captured 200 rifles and 115 prisoners. The Spaniards 
say he was born in Spain. 

" On June 28, 800 men from the eastern army were sent out to 
join the army which is to go as reinforcements to the western end of 
the Island. The next day General Serafin Sanchez left for Las Villas 
with the reinforcements. General Rabi went toward Tunas, where he 
will meet Calixto Garcia and Maximo Gomez, Jose Maceo, Periquito 
Perez, Matias Vegas and Higinio Vasquez. 

" It is surprising to see so many lawyers, doctors, merchants, stu- 
dents and others, who a year ago were working at their offices, now 
turned into soldiers for the cause of freedom. Early in the morning, 
June 30, we were informed that the enemy was coming toward us. 
Our men were aching for a fight, but no enemy made its appearance. 

" Reveille was sounded at 3 A. m. on July I, and camp was struck 

at once. We marched all day until the afternoon, when we halted at a 

place called Curia, where we had our mess of plantains and yuca root. 

Our men captured at this place a Spanish courier bearing important 

dispatches. 

Hurrying for Life to the Woods. 

" We started after mess and halted for the night at a place known 
as El Hondon. When I awoke on July 2 I found my leg was con- 
siderably swollen from a wound I inflicted on myself in jumping a 
barbed wire fence. It had become inflamed in walking six miles in 
the scorching sun. As I found it utterly impossible for me to move 
on I was ordered by General Maceo to remain at a prefect's house, 
on the road, where the inmates said they would look after me. An 
officer of the general staff, however, was detailed to see that I was 
duly cared for. The army surgeon, Porfirio Valiente, of General 
Maceo's staff, dressed my wound and I was left at the house of the 
prefect. The Cuban forces continued on their march. 

"Soon after they had gone a courier from the main body rushed 
into the house and directed me to run for safety into the woods 
near by, as a body of guerrillas would probably pass the place where I 
was and might do harm to me and the other inmates of the prefect's 
house, who were men unable to fight, and women. 



556 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

" The prefect, an old man, at once sounded the alarm, and every- 
body in the neighborhood rushed for the nearest woods. While I 
was hiding my personal effects near the house, a volley from the ap- 
proaching guerrilla band warned me to run for my life. At the same 
time that the Spaniards rushed toward the house a body of Cuban 
cavalry, which had been ordered to protect it, charged them from an 
opposite direction, and, as I had no time to lose on account of my 
disabled condition, I started for the woods, guided by a young girl, a 
daughter of the prefect, who took me by a narrow path in the woods 
to the rebel camp, where there were about thirty families. 

" From the hiding-place we could hear the firing and even the 
voices of the combatants. Shortly afterward it began to rain copi- 
ously and the firing ceased. I spent the night in the woods. 

The Spanish Troops Retreat. 

" Early on July 3 I went to the prefect's house. Couriers had 
been sent in all directions searching for me. At the house I was told 
that the affair of the previous day had been only a skirmish ; that the 
Spaniards had withdrawn as soon as they noticed there was resist- 
ance shown them. When they found that General Maceo was wait- 
ing to give them battle they changed their course and went to the 
town of Songo, which is fortified. 

" Going over the ground where the fighting had taken place, the 
previous day, it was found that there were five dead horses, one be- 
longing to an officer, who left his pearl-handled revolver by the 
horse's side. Pools of blood were seen all around, and the body of 
a dead Spanish soldier was found in the tall grass. The Spaniards' 
loss cannot be estimated, but, judging by the pools of blood, they 
had many dead and wounded. The Cubans lost Major Jose Ines 
Echevarria, and a sergeant killed and three privates wounded. 

" General Maceo was in ambush three miles away from the place 
and had placed two rapid-fire guns in commanding positions, but the 
enemy changed front and evaded the encounter. He sent several 
detachments of his men after the Spaniards, who harassed their 
column as they retreated to Songo. On July 4, which marks Ameri- 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 557 

can Independence, all was joy in camp at dawn and sadness at night. 
Maceo's forces, which kept hunting for the Spaniards, were informed 
while halting at the Triunfo estate, owned by an American — Mr. 
Whiting — that two Spanish columns were encamped at Loma del 
Gato, near the town of Cristo. Maceo at once ordered his men to 
move in that direction. 

" When General Maceo reached the place the Spaniards were en- 
gaged in burning all the houses by the roadside. Maceo charged 
them with his own body guard and part of General Cebreco's 
cavalry. The Spanish cavalry fled before the Cuban horsemen's 
charge. The Spaniards then began to work two rapid-fire guns. 

" Maceo's intentions were to carry the enemy's position by assault, 

and he charged several times, hewing down many of his opponents 

at each cavalry onslaught. During one of the charges Maceo, who 

.ras riding a superb white horse, was struck in the head by a bullet, 

which lodged in his brain. He was taken down from his horse by one 

of his aides, while the fight continued under the direction of General 

Cebreco. 

Death of General Jose Maceo. 

" Maceo was taken into the town of Ti Arriba, which was held by 
the Cubans. He died shortly afterward, without uttering a word. 
The General died as he often said he would like to die, fighting- for 
Cuban freedom. General Periquito Perez was by the side of Maceo 
until the end. The Spaniards retired into the town of Cristo, carry- 
ing many wounded. The Spanish loss was undoubtedly heavy. The 
Cubans lost, beside General Maceo, three privates killed and twenty- 
four wounded. 

" Maceo's death has exasperated his men so much that they are 
fretting to meet the Spaniards again to avenge their commander's 
fate. I learned that a fierce fight had taken place near Mayari some 
days ago. Generals Maximo Gomez and Calixto Garcia are coming 
toward us, and General Rabi would meet them. It was expected that, 
combining their forces, they will strike a heavy blow at some import- 
ant place. The Spaniards tried to move this morning toward the 
point where we were encamped, but a section of cavalry from Las 



558 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

Villas on their way to meet us met them, and, after a skirmish, drove 
them back to their fortified town." 

Similar operations, involving skirmishes without decisive results, 
were carried on notwithstanding the rainy season and the outbreak of 
yellow fever. The insurgents continued to receive arms and ammu- 
nition from secret expeditions sent out from various parts of the 
United States. The Spanish Government more than intimated that 
our Government at Washington was not exercising all possible vigi- 
lance to prevent filibustering expeditions, which, it was maintained by 
our officials at Washington, was a groundless charge. 

A great stir was caused at Madrid on October 17th, by the state- 
ment in a dispatch from Washington that President Cleveland in- 
tended to intervene in Cuba in a manner tantamount to the recogni- 
tion of the independence of the insurgents. The Impartial, a semi- 
official journal it Madrid, commenting on the report, declared that 
Spain ought to demand a full explanation of the Washington Gov- 
ernment. 

Anger in Madrid. 

" She cannot brook such a threat over her head," continued the 
Impartial, " even for a single day. By what right do the United States 
define the time for Spain to settle a question of her internal adminis- 
tration ? It must be affirmed before the whole world that the Amer- 
ican Government cannot impose any sort of terms upon us." 

After denouncing the United States' " fictional neutrality," the Im- 
partial concluded as follows : 

" The conduct of the United States will arouse general indignation. 
If Spain should remain alone in a conflict with the United States, 
Spaniards by their own efforts will know how to mark the difference 
between the noble defenders of their own property and the vile traf- 
fickers at Washington." 

Such expressions were not calculated to cement more closely the 
bonds of peace between the two nations. The resolutions in the 
platforms of the Republican and Democratic parties expressing strong 
sympathy with the Cubans in their conflict, still further irritated the 
Spanish Government and pointed to a possible rupture between the 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 55b 

two nations. Mr. Cleveland was plainly resolved to take no notice of 
the angry mutterings of thoughtless partizans. His policy was non- 
interference, equal justice to all and a peaceful attitude on the part of 
our Foreign Office. Such an attitude would be approved after the 
clamor of the hour had subsided. 

With the election of Mr. McKinley fresh alarm was felt in Spain 
and new hope among the friends of Cuba. Would belligerent rights 
be granted to the insurgents ? Would there be a formal and authori- 
tative expression of the sympathy of the American people for the 
gallant patriots struggling for life and liberty against the tyranny and 
oppression of Spain ? It was conceded to be more likely that active 
measures in behalf of Cuba would be adopted and vigorously enforced 
under the new administration. It was possible that Mr. McKinley 
would adopt a policy intended to secure to Cuba freedom and inde- 
pendence. Spain was stirred to a half desperation and the patriot 
army of Cuba nerved itself afresh for the sword and victory. 

News from the Battle-field. 

Under the most recent advices, a close observer of Cuban affairs 
makes the following statement of the situation : 

" The Cubans can continue to use the ' fight-when-you-please ' tac- 
tics that have enabled them to carry the revolution through the 750 
miles of narrow Cuba against Spanish masses, which, if not so large, 
were even better equipped with railroads, telephone and telegraph 
lines than are the Weyler hosts to-day. 

" Spain has 200,000 troops in Cuba. Two-thirds of them are 
needed to guard the fortified towns and the trocha. The other third 
form General Weyler's army of operations, of 50,000 men, picked 
troops, guerrillas, regular cavalry, infantry and mountain artillery. 
This force cannot well be increased in numbers without large rein- 
forcements from Spain, for to withdraw or to weaken a single garri- 
son means the destroying of a town by the Cubans and the loss to 
Spain of a stronghold, a storehouse and a base of possible operations. 

" The trocha garrisons might be brought into active service with- 
out weakening Spain's chances, but the ' trocha idea ' seems to fill 



660 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

such a large part of the Spanish military brain that it is not likely to 
be done. The Cuban leaders, too, may be relied upon to keep up a 
vast amount of demonstration near these alleged military ' strong ' 
lines to foster the Spanish notion that 50,000 useless trocha soldiers 
are useful. Of Spain's 50,000 soldiers now available for active duty 
30,000 are now being sent against Maceo's mountains in Eastern 
Pinar del Rio, just west of the Mariel (Weyler's) trocha. The other 
20,000 are scattered. 

Odds in Favor of the Insurgents. 

" Weyler has taken the field. His forces are near the Rubi Moun- 
tains. He cannot hope to win, even should Maceo be killed, for then 
the Cuban army would merely split up, would be all the harder to 
catch and would occupy the province. The war would only last the 
longer. It is likely that Maceo will have an easy time of it shortly. 
Unless Weyler deserts his Eastern trocha or abandons many towns, 
he must move most of his force out of Pinar del Rio province, across 
the Mariel trocha and into East Central Cuba to use them against the 
v^stward movement in three columns of General Gomez, whose ad- 
vance guard is already in Matanzas province. 

" Even should Weyler abandon the eastern trocha, collect all his 
available scattered columns and immediately mass 80,000 men against 
Maceo, it is not at all likely that he would crush, or even corner and 
starve out the Cuban General, such are the wonderful strategic advan- 
tages of Cuba's Western wooded mountains. Weyler may even mass 
this number of men against Gomez. This move would seem equally 
unavailing, for last year he tried it without success with over 125,000 
men and with railroads, telephones and telegraphs at his disposal. 

" The Cuban farmers have stuck to their fields despite positive 
orders to leave them for Spain's fortified towns, and they have not 
even been intimidated by wholesale butcheries in stopping their all- 
important service to their brethren in arms." 



GENERAL ANTONIO MACEO. 

CLOSELY following the events narrated in the foregoing pages, 
came reports of the death of the renowned Cuban leader, 
General Antonio Maceo. The death of the brother of this 
famous chieftain has already been recorded. Each was a tower oi 
strength to the cause of independence in Cuba, and with their death 
it was believed in Spanish circles that a fatal blow had been struck to 
the cause of the insurgents. 

It is not surprising that there was great joy both in Havana and 
in Madrid when it was reported that Antonio Maceo had fallen or. 
the field of battle. The report was, however, received with reserve, 
as this was the sixth time in which he had been reported killed. His 
ability to rise from death appeared to be like that of the fabled Phcenix, 
which sprang from its own ashes, and spread its wings with renewed 
youth and vigor. Soon the question agitated two continents, " Is 
Maceo really dead ? " The public mind was in a state of uncertainty, 
and eagerly awaited confirmation or denial of the news. 

In forty-eight hours it was stated by the representatives of the re- 
public of Cuba, that Maceo had been foully assassinated, and circum- 
stantial details were reported. It was affirmed that he had been lured 
into ambush under pretense of discussing with him terms of peace, 
and in open violation of the laws of civilized warfare, his flag of truce 
had been disregarded, and he had been slain by the foulest treachery. 
It was declared that the physician on his staff, Dr. Zertucha, was a 
prime mover in the intrigue that cost Maceo his life. 

Conflicting Reports. 
It was not long before reports came that the great leader was still 
alive, and although he had disappeared from the scene of his recent 
operations, he was still at the head of his troops, and was dealing 
sturdy blows at the forces of General Weyler. That he had lost his 
life seemed to be confirmed by a letter purporting to have been writ- 
ten by young Gomez, son of General Maximo Gomez, chief in com- 
mand of the insurgents. The body of young Gomez was found with 
that of Maceo, and the letter stated that he had taken his own life 
36 *« 



562 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

rather than be separated from the slain body of his leader. Various 
documents were also said to have been found which proved that one 
of the bodies found was that of General Maceo. Still, many Cuban 
sympathizers throughout the country refused to believe he had met 
his death. 

The following despatch, in detail confirmatory of his previous 
advices, was received by the Spanish Minister DeLome, at Wash- 
ington, from the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs at Madrid : 

" The insurgent leader, Antonio Maceo, realizing the impossibility 
of remaining in Pinar Del Rio Province, and being constantly pur- 
sued by Spanish columns, crossed the trocha on the 4th instant. He 
was at the head of over two thousand men, whom he had recruited 
from the local bands of the western part of the Province of Havana, 
when he was overtaken by Major Cirujeda's column, 350 men strong. 
Maceo's forces were routed, the leader being killed in the engage- 
ment, and Maximo Gomez's son committing suicide after being 
wounded. 

" The corpses have been identified, and their clothing, arms, and 
me documents found in their possession were taken by the Spaniards. 
The remainder of the brave band dispersed in consequence of this 
brilliant victory of our troops." 

Details of Maceo's Death. 

This intelligence was supplemented by a trustworthy despatch 
from Havana, as follows : 

" The confident claim of the Spanish officials that they have abundant 
proof of the death of Antonio Maceo and his young aide, Francisco 
Gomez, son of Maximo Gomez, continues. The details which are 
announced, however, of the facts relied upon for the identification of 
the two Cubans have caused an undercurrent of doubt in this city. 

"Major Cirujeda, who commanded the Spanish forces in the 
engagement at Punta Brava, and whose troops discovered the two 
bodies and gave the evidence of identification, has consented to be 
interviewed on the circumstances of the case. He said to a news- 
paper correspondent that when the insurgents were routed it was 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 563 

evident that the body of the chief was abandoned on the field. The 
Spanish column, without stopping to explore the field, went in hot 
pursuit of the insurgents, and followed them for a mile or more. 
Meantime young Gomez is supposed to have committed suicide by 
Maceo's side. While the troops were returning to Guatao, after the 
pursuit had ceased, various guerrillas belonging to Major Cirujeda's 
command, went over the field where the rout of the insurgents hi J 
occurred, and searched the bodies remaining there for anything of 
importance. 

'"The body of Maceo,' Major Cirujeda continued, 'was relieved 
of a ring, clothing, etc. The guerrillas who performed the act were 
at the time quite unaware that the body was that of Maceo. In fact, 
little attention was paid to the identity of the bodies. It was already 
dark on the field, and it was raining also. Various other bodies were 
also searched.' 

Indignities Offered to the Slain. 

" It was an adjutant, according to Major Cirujeda's further state- 
ment, who insisted that the above-mentioned body and the other, 
which was lying by its side, were evidently of importance, and that they 
must not be left thus without identification. 'The two bodies were, 
therefore, tied by the feet to the tails of some horses,' Major Cirujeda 
went on to relate, ' and thus dragged over the ground, the intention 
being to carry them to town for identification. But, after proceeding 
for a while, the horses became tired with their burden, and the bodies 
were therefore cut loose and left in the road.' 

" When the troops reached Guatao Major Cirujeda proceeded to 
read the documents which had been found upon the bodies. They 
included a letter addressed to ' Dear Panchot,' and signed M. 
Gomez, a diary of Maceo's operations from November 28 to Decem- 
ber 7 and a note in pencil, found on the body of the younger man, 
saying he died rather than abandon the body of his general. 

" The undershirt and socks on the body of the elder man were 
marked with the initials ' A. M.,' and a ring on the finger contained 
Ihe engraved inscription, 'Antonio y Maria,' After reading these 



564 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

documents Major Cirujeda says he became convinced that the bodies 
which the troops had abandoned were those of Antonio Maceo and 
the young Gomez. But it was then too late to return and recover 
them. Major Cirujeda, however, expresses the firm conviction that 
they were those of Maceo and Gomez's son. 

" With the insurgents in the battle, Major Cirujeda says, was a beau- 
tiful Amazon about 22 years of age, who urged the rebels 'a la 
machete,' but at the same time interposed to prevent the killing of 
the prisoners. Major Cirujeda has taken charge of the objects found 
on the body said to be that of Maceo for further examination. There 
were a gold watch, a splendid pair of cuff buttons made by Moreau 
Torin, Paris, with five-pointed stars on them and enclosed in a big 
strapped leather case, a hunting knife with an ebony handle and gold 
mounted, and a good waterproof coat. All of these were taken from 
the body by the scout Santa Ana. It is thus seen that there has been 
no actual identification of the bodies themselves, the conviction as to 
identity resting upon the evidence of documents and articles found 

upon them. 

A Most Striking Character. 

" There is no doubt, however, of the assurance of the general public 
here that Maceo is dead. It is pointed out that he met his death in 
a manner similar to that of Jose Marti and Zyas. His loss is con- 
sidered as the heaviest blow the revolution has received, and it is felt 
that his continued life was all that could save the insurgent move- 
ment. He was the most striking personal character of the outbreak. 

" Major Cirujeda telegraphed to headquarters that after the battle 
at Punta Brava he had been obliged to abandon the bodies which in 
the course of a reconnoissance his troops had discovered to be the 
bodies of Maceo and Francisco Gomez. The guide of the column 
said that the body looked like Maceo. Some one standing by ob- 
served that Maceo was in Pinar del Rio, but it is nevertheless believed 
that the bodies were those of the Cuban leaders. The bugler of the 
battalion of San Quentin was taking away from the fallen Cuban a 
ring, when he found that he was still alive. He thereupon killed 
him with the machete. The insurgents, upon noting the small force 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 565 

of the reconnoitering party, rushed in with a large number on the 
troops and succeeded in carrying away the body said to be Maceo's, 
but without securing any of the jewels and papers which had been 
found upon it. 

" Major Cirujeda, in order not to abandon his dead and wounded, 
was compelled to retreat to Punta Brava. At Punta Brava the sol- 
diers delivered the jewels and documents which they had found with 
the two bodies and then the chief of the column became convinced 
of the death of Maceo." 

Following is a copy of the letter written in pencil which was 
found on the body of the youth supposed to be Francisco Gomez : 

" Dear Mamma, Papa, Dear Brothers : I die at my post. I did not 
want to abandon the body of General Maceo, and I stayed with him. 
I was wounded in two places, and as I did not fall into the hands of 
the enemy I have killed myself. I am dying. I die pleased at being 
in the defense of the Cuban cause. I wait for you in the other 
world. Your son, " Francisco Gomez. 

" Torro in San Domingo." 

(" Friends or foes, please transmit to its destination, as requested 
by' one dead.") 

Ovation to General Weyler. 

General Weyler, who was absent from Havana when Maceo's death 
was reported, immediately returned, arriving at half-past five in the 
afternoon. He rode into the city on horseback, accompanied by two 
squadrons of cavalry. His coming had been made known to the 
public, and large crowds gathered to welcome him. He was given a 
popular ovation from the time he reached the city limits until he ar- 
rived at the Palace. At some places along his route girls strewed 
flowers in his pathway, and he was in other ways treated as a popular 
hero. 

Calle Obispo, Calle O'Reilly, the other streets in the vicinity of the 
Palace, and the Plaza de Armas were jammed with people, who en- 
thusiastically cheered the Captain-General as he rode along. When 
he arrived near the Palace the enthusiastic crowd surrounded him, 



566 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

despite the military, and he was compelled to stop his horse in order 
not to ride down his admirers, who greeted him with all manner of 
loyal cries. A passage-way was finally opened, and General Weyler 
proceeded to the Palace. Shortly after he had entered the building 
he appeared upon a balcony, and was greeted with the most tumul- 
tuous cheering. 

Rejoicings at Havana. 

The city at night presented a most animated aspect, reflecting the 
joy felt by the Spaniards because of Maceo's death and General Wey- 
ler's triumph over the insurgents in the western province. Casa 
Blanca, the little village under the walls of the Cabala fortress, and 
Regla, on the southern side of the bay, held little demonstrations of 
their own in honor of the victorious return of General Weyler. 

Further details of General Maceo's untimely death were soon after 
received, and were as follows : 

Dr. Maximo Zertucha, formerly the physician of Antonio Maceo, 
the second in command of the insurgent forces, who, after the death 
of Maceo, surrendered to General Tort, at San Felipe, was inter- 
viewed by a reporter of La Lucha, one of the leading newspapers ot 
Havana. Dr. Zertucha said that Maceo intended to attempt to cross 
the trocha on December 3, but was prevented by sickness from doing 
so. On the next day, however, it was announced that he would not 
march across the trocha with his men, but would go by water around 
the end of the trocha and meet an insurgent force on the Havana side 
of the line. Two boats were accordingly prepared, they being painted 
black in order to prevent their being seen, and the oars were muffled 
so they could not be heard while playing in the row-locks. At night 
Maceo and twenty-six men embarked in the boats, and passed in 
front of the town of Mariel, at the northern extremity of the western 
trocha, without being seen by any of the Spanish sentries there- 
abouts. The insurgent leader, Miro, and several other commanders, 
accompanied Maceo. The short voyage was accomplished without 
the slightest mishap, and the insurgent party landed at the point 
selected without being discovered. 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 567 

When, on December 4, the engagement took place between the in- 
surgents and Major Cirujeda's command, Maceo was encamped with 
2,000 men. When the Spanish force appeared, Maceo divided his 
men into two wings, his intention being to surround the Spanish col- 
umn. He remained alone with his staff for a moment, watching the 
fighting, and exclaimed, " This goes well." 

Shortly afterwards he was hit by two bullets, one striking him on 
the chin, breaking hi J jaw and passing out at the junction of the 
neck and shoulder, and the other striking him in the abdomen. 
Either wound would have caused death, and the insurgent leader ex- 
pired in a short time. 

Maceo's Body Recovered. 

The insurgents who were fighting desperately against the Spanish 
attack, were panic-stricken when they heard of the death of their 
chief. They fled in disorder, not making any attempt then to take 
Maceo's body with them. The Spaniards then returned to Punta 
Brava with their dead and wounded. When the field was clear some 
of the insurgents returned and carried Maceo's body off with them. 
Dr. Zertucha said that he did not know where the remains were 
buried, and thus far the search made by the Spaniards has proved 
fruitless. 

From other accounts it appears that Maceo and his staff were en- 
camped in the hills and expecting the arrival of Cuban reinforce- 
ments, under Brigadier-General Sanchez and others, ordered by Gen- 
eral Aguirre to receive and escort the noted Pinar del Rio chief to 
the east. Major Cirujeda was totally ignorant of Maceo's presence 
in the district, believing him to be still west of the trocha. But 
learning that a Spanish fort, on the San Pedro had been fired upon 
that morning by insurgents, he started out on a reconnoitering tour 
at the head of a remnant of the San Quentin battalion, accompanied 
by a force of local guerrillas under Captain Peral. The latter's men 
were dressed in a manner very similar to that of the insurgent troops, 
and they marched in the vanguard of the Spanish column. 

Mistaking these for Sanchez's vanguard, challenges having been 



568 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

made and countersigns given satisfactorily, Maceo, surrounded by 
members of his staff and a handful of followers, advanced with all 
confidence to meet his friends, when the guerrillas received them with 
a rifle volley. Maceo fell at the first fire, his men, temporarily dis- 
concerted with surprise, retiring by the flanks. Young Gomez, though 
he had been previously wounded at the trocha and still had his arm 
in a sling, assisted, as the engagement became general, in dragging 
his chief to a place of temporary safety on the grass, and remained 
by his side until, realizing that they had been abandoned, Gomez 
wrote the note to his parents, which has been previously referred to, 
and then committed suicide by shooting himself with a revolver. 

"I Die for Cuba and Independence." 

After the fight the Spanish scout, Santa Ana, accompanied by the 
bugler of the San Quentin battalion, while reconnoitering the field in 
quest of documents and other objects of importance or value, rar 
upon the body of Maceo, who was still alive. As the bugler puller, 
the ring from his finger, Maceo asked in an agonized tone if the) 
were Spaniards or Cubans. 

" Spaniards," said the bugler, and he raised his machete as the dy- 
ing chief said : " I die for Cuba and independence." 

As the knife came down, almost severing the victim's head from 
his body, the scout, interposing, remarked : " That man resembles 
Maceo." " Impossible," responded the bugler. " Maceo is in Pinar 
del Rio." 

The scout insisted that at least it was a chief of some importance, 
and, tying the body by the feet to his horse's tail, he proceeded. 
Meanwhile, the insurgents, learning that their chief's body was in 
Spanish hands, and being evidently reinforced, rallied and made a new 
attack and succeeded in recovering the body. The Spanish officers, 
unaware of its importance, cut it loose as an unnecessary impediment 

It thus seems that Major Cirujeda did not know that his forces had 
encountered and killed Maceo till after reaching Guatao at nightfall 
and reading the documents, etc. The full statements of Dr. Zertucha 
were not allowed to be telegraphed even to Madrid. 



General Antonio Maceo. 

By Gonzalo de Quesada, 

Charge D'Affaires of the Republic of Cuba. 

THERE is one dark day that will be forever remembered 
by the Cubans. On that day fell General Antonio Maceo. 
The life of this hero was cut short by treachery in the moments 
in which he was to astonish the world by a most brilliant blow to 
Spanish domination — an attack on the suburbs of Havana. 

Antonio Maceo was the son of Mariana Grajales, who will go to 
posterity for having given fourteen children to the cause of liberty. 
His father was Marcos Maceo, a cattle-driver. He was born in San- 
tiago de Cuba on the 14th of July, 1848, the anniversary of the fall 
of the Bastile. When the revolution of Yara broke out Antonio was 
a stalwart youth, who had followed his father's occupation, and re- 
vealed already the qualities which afterwards made him famous — 
sagacity and fearlessness. Some days after the outbreak, Marcos 
assembled his children. His house had been burned; his family had 
been ill-treated by the Spaniards ; his native land was in arms against 
the tyrant. His own children and his step-sons took the oath of 
fighting to the last for Cuba's independence, and not one failed to 
keep the word ! 

In the first engagement Antonio, a private, so distinguished him- 
self in the front rank of the patriots that General Donato Marniol 
congratulated him. Without ever enjoying a furlough, without hav- 
ing been reprimanded, without any favoritism, he rose by sheer merit 
to the highest rank in the Army of the Republic. His twenty-four 
scars and three bullets in his body were the best testimonies of his 
invaluable services to his country. He fought those ten years like a 
lion. His deeds read like a novel or the feats of some superhuman 
being. The bullets seemed to caress him, but never to wish him 
much harm. 

669 



570 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

When the treaty of El Zanjon was signed, while the Cubans were 
being duped by Spanish promises of reforms, General Antonio Maceo 
remained firm, with some hundreds of his loyal followers. The bat- 
talion of San Quintin— curiously enough the one which twenty years 
after killed him — was decimated in two days of constant firing. The 
Spaniards reported that when Maceo charged he would cry out to 
the Spanish officers : " This is the way the brave of San Ulpiano 
surrender ! " 

Defied the Forces of Spain. 

All efforts to induce him to capitulate were useless. He protested 
at the famous Baragua against the compact entered into ; he fought 
four months alone against all the forces of Spain, in the midst of his 
indifferent compatriots. The Spanish commander attempted to pro- 
pose money to him. Maceo answered to the Spanish Brigadier- 
General Fuenks : " You take advantage of the distance and the slight 
acquaintance there exists between us to offend my honor in a way I 
shall never forget. Do the Spanish believe that men who fight for a 
principle and military glory, who respect their reputation and honor, 
can sell themselves when they have the hope yet of saving their prin- 
ciples, or to die in the attempt without degrading themselves ? No • 
men who, like me, fight for the sacred cause of liberty will break 
their weapons when they are impotent to win before degrading 
themselves." 

And when, finally, he left for Jamaica to see if he could obtain new 
means for the war, with his faithful companion, General Ruis Rivera, 
a man of the same temper, he wrote : " I did not submit to the treaty 
nor to the terrible situation. I left because my friends deceived me 
with a commission, when, in reality, they wished to save my life." 

Maceo, during the peace, traveled in several South American coun- 
tries ; in Honduras he held an important government position ; in 
Costa Rica he devoted himself to the establishment of a tobacco col- 
ony, aided by the government. During these years he studied lan- 
guages, tactics, strategy, and was a devourer of the best literature ; 
but never for one moment did he give up his ideal, not even when he 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 571 

enjoyed the blessings of the happiest of companionship with his wife, 
the virtuous and patriotic Maria Cabral. 

In 1884, with General Gomez, he tried to renew the war, but the 
country was not ready yet ; in 1890 he went to Havana and Santiago 
de Cuba, and was preparing to rebel, when he was banished. He then 
returned to Central America, where, in July, 1893, Marti conferred 
with him. Maceo commenced immediately to prepare for the coming 
revolution. The following year the Spaniards tried to assassinate 
him in San Jose, Costa Rica. On leaving the theatre the Cubans and 
Spaniards clashed ; General Maceo was assisting a lady who had 
fainted ; a treacherous Spaniard fired his revolver at the general's 
back, and the bullet he then received he carried with him to tb« day 
of his death. 

On the 31st day of March, 1895, he landed atDuaba, on the north- 
ern coast of Baracoa, with a few followers. As soon as he met peo- 
ple he sent a despatch to the Spanish commander : " Maceo is here." 
The Spanish troops were defeated in the first engagement, but they 
sent thousands after him ; they thought they had him caught; he was 
reported killed and buried. Finally, after a series of hardships, and 
suffering enough to discourage any other mortal, he joined the 
nucleus of the Cuban army ; two weeks afterwards his presence alone 
in the Island had increased the army in the Eastern Department to 
seven thousand men ; when Marti and Gomez met him they were 
organized and ready for ten years of war, if necessary. 

His Brilliant Victories. 

The story of his exploits during this Revolution are current history : 
ne fought Marshal Martinez Campos at Peralejos, inflicting a tre- 
mendous defeat on the Spaniards, in which General Santosceldes was 
killed ; he was General Gomez's coadjutor in the great invasion of the 
Western provinces, defeating Martinez Campos again at Coliseo, Gen- 
erals Cornell, Lugue, Echague, and whipping Colonel Deods to the sea. 

After reaching the westernmost part of the Island, Mantua, he re- 
turned to the provinces of Havana and Matanzas. General Weyler, hav- 
ing proclaimed the pacification of Havana and Pinar del Rio in order 



572 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

to influence the action of both houses at Washington, General Maceo 
retraced his steps and again entered Pinar del Rio. Then he became 
the central figure of the revolution ; the eyes of the world were all 
fixed on this giant, who defied the whole power of Spain and her best 
generals with a few thousands of patriots ; the military trocha con- 
structed to keep him from returning to Havana, killed as many thou- 
sands of Spanish soldiers as the total of Maceo's army ; every time a 
Spanish column dared attack him it was destroyed, leaving hundreds 
of arms in Maceo's possession. 

A Victim of Treason. 

Finally, Weyler decided to take the field against him, but Weyler 
returned to Havana without finding the astute Cuban, who would not 
give battle except when he was sure of victory. The clamor of Spain 
and the requests of her ministers forced Weyler to again go in his 
quest. Maceo, who had thoroughly organized his forces in the prov- 
inces, and had under him General Ruis Rivera, in whom he absolutely 
confided, resolved to discredit General Weyler completely ; he would 
cross the so-called impenetrable trocha, would appear in Havana, burn 
the outskirts, and then join General Gomez for the winter campaign. 
General Weyler would be looking for him among the hills, and the 
authorities at Madrid would say that Maceo had burned Mariana. 

He crossed the line on the 4th of December ; on the 5th he cele- 
brated the event, on the 6th and 7th he was joined by Cuban forces 
of Havana province, about four hundred in number. As yet the 
Spaniards were not aware of his crossing; here the work of treason 
commenced ; to all appearances the man in whom he had entire con- 
fidence, his physician, Dr. Zertucha, communicated to the Spaniards 
the news and details of where General Maceo would be ; in those 
days desertions had occurred from the Spanish ranks; it was easy to 
simulate a Cuban force with Spanish regulars. 

General Maceo was marching with his men on the 7th, when they 
met Major Cirujeda with six hundred of the San Quintin regiment, 
famous for its killing of pacificos ; at first General Maceo took them 
to be Cubans ; soon was the error discovered. A fierce battle fol* 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 573 

lowed, General Maceo commanding the centre ; the outlook was so 
Dright that General Maceo exclaimed, " This goes well." To decide 
the engagement, he charged, his machete on high, at the head of his 
staff, as he had done a hundred times before. Fifty paces from the 
enemy a terrific volley laid him low, with the valiant Francisco 
Gomez, the son of the general-in-chief. Only General Miro escaped, 
wounded. 

The Spaniards, defeated, were forced to retreat to Punta Brava ; 
the Cubans recovered the body, which they secretly buried. This is 
the story from the best sources in the absence of official reports. 
Thus died the wonderful mulatto, the most illustrious, perhaps, of his 
race, superior to Toussaint L'Ouverture. His public life was conse- 
crated to liberty ; he knew no vice or mean action ; he would not 
permit any around him. When he landed, he was told there were no 
arms. " I will get them with my machete," he answered, and he left 
5,000 to his country, conquered by the power of his arm. 

He was modest : when some young flatterer told him : " You are 
by right the general-in-chief, because you were the last to surrender 
in the last war," he replied, " My sword can never compare with 
that of General Maximo Gomez." He was a man of lofty ideal : 
when the Spanish press propagated the calumny that he was aiming 
at a colored republic, he sent me word to then and always assert over 
my signature that : " General Maceo is neither black nor white ; he 
is a Cuban." That is the man, a Cuban, and for that reason it is fit- 
ting that General Miro should have saturated his handkerchief with 
the blood of the patriot, so that he could show it to his countrymen 
as the symbol of sacrifice, and that it may serve to keep them alive 
to their duty of dying like the hero, Antonio Maceo, who never sur- 
rendered to the Spanish tyrant ! 




674 



Description of the Famous Trocha — Inhuman Treat 

ment of American Citizens — Consul-General 

Lee's Prompt and Resolute Action. 



THE peculiar methods of warfare adopted by the Cuban insurgents 
led General Weyler to construct his famous barricade, known 
as the trocha. It has not been the plan of the Cuban army 
ever to risk a great battle against the immense army of Spain, for the 
reason that they were much fewer in number, and for a long time were 
but poorly equipped with arms and ammunition. Still, with their cav- 
alry and scattered bands, they were able to occupy a large part of the 
Island, and even to threaten the city of Havana. General Weyler's 
plan was to construct a trocha, extending from a point on the North 
coast to the Southern coast, thus dividing a small part of the Island 
from the remainder. The Western section, known as the Province of 
Pinar del Rio, could then, it was thought, be pacified, and the insur- 
gents driven out. It would be impossible for them to pass the trocha, 
and they could be pursued and captured. The reader will be inter- 
ested in a description of this formidable barricade. 

The trocha is a cleared space, 150 to 200 yards wide, which 
stretches through what is apparently an impassable jungle for 50 
miles. The trees, which have been cut down in clearing this passage- 
way, have been piled up at each side of the cleared space and laid in 
parallel rows, forming a barrier of tree trunks and roots and branches 
higher than a man's head. It would take a man some time to pick 
his way over these barriers, and a horse could no more do it than it 
could cross a jam of floating logs in a river. The object was to 
make the obstacles insurmountable to the insurgent cavalry, and to 
armed bodies of infantry, presenting an effectual check upon the trans- 
portation of artillery, and in fact upon all their offensive movements 

Between the fallen trees lies the single track of the military rail- 
road and on one side of that are the line of forts, and a few feet 

575 



576 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

beyond them a maze of barbed wire. Beyond the barbed wire again 
is the other barrier of fallen trees, and the jungle. In its unfinished 
state, this is not an insurmountable barricade. Gomez crossed it by 
daylight with 600 men, and with but the loss of 27 killed, and as 
many wounded. Where it has been completed, it is almost impos- 
sible to cross it, except at the sacrifice of a great loss of life. 

Three Styles of Forts. 

The forts are of three kinds. They are best described as the forts, 
the block- houses and the little forts. A big fort consists of two 
stories, wuh a cellar below, and a watch-tower above. It is made of 
stone and adobe, and it is painted a glaring white. One of these is 
placed at intervals of every half mile along the trocha, and on a clear 
day the sentry in the watch-tower of each can see the three forts on 
his either side. 

Midway between the big forts, at a distance of a quarter of a mile 
from each, is a block-house of two stories, with the upper story of 
wood, overhanging the lower foundation of mud. These are placed 
at right angles to the railroad, instead of facing it, as do the forts. 

Between each block-house and each fort are three little forts o\ 
mud and planks, surrounded by a ditch. They look something like 
a farmer's ice-house, as we see them at home, and they are about as 
hot inside as the other is cold. They hold five men, and are within 
hailing distance of one another. Back of them are three rows of stout 
wooden stakes, with barbed wire stretching from one row to the other, 
interlacing and crossing and running in and out above and below, 
like an intricate cats' cradle of wire. 

A Barbed- Wire Barricade. 

One can judge how closely knit it is by the fact that to every twelve 
yards of posts there are 450 yards of barbed fencing. The forts are 
most completely equipped in their way, and twelve men in the jungle 
would find it quite easy to keep twelve men securely imprisoned in 
one of them for an indefinite length of time. 

Thf* walls are about twelve feet high with a cellar below and a vault 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 577 

above the cellar. The roof of the vault forms a platform, around 
which the four walls rise to the height of a man's shoulder. There 
are loopholes for rifles in the sides of the vault and where the platform 
joins the walls. These latter allow the men in the fort to fire down 
almost directly upon the head of any one who might rush up close to 
the wall of the fort, and where, without these holes in the floor, it 
would be impossible to fire on him except by leaning far over the 
rampart. 

Above the platform is an iron or zinc roof, supported by iron 
pillars, and in the centre of this is the watch-tower. The only 
approach to the fort is by a movable ladder, which hangs over the 
side like the gangway of a ship of war and which can be raised by 
those on the inside by means of a rope suspended over a wheel in 
the roof. The opening in the wall at the head of the ladder is closed 
at the time of an attack by an iron platform, to which the ladder 
leads, and which also can be raised by a pulley. The Spanish hope 
to have calcium lights in the watch-towers of the forts with sufficient 
power to throw a search-light over a quarter of a mile, or to the next 
block-house, and so light the trocha by night as well as day. With 
their immense army it would not be difficult to do this. 

Bomb Death Traps. 

As a further protection against the insurgents the Spaniards have 
distributed a number of bombs along the trocha. These are placed 
at those points in the trocha where the jungle is less thickly grown, 
and where the insurgents might be expected to pass. Each bomb is 
fitted with an explosive cap, and five or six wires are attached to this 
and staked down on the ground. Any one stumbling over one of 
these wires explodes the bomb and throws a charge of broken iron 
to a distance of fifty feet. This, in brief, was General Weyler's 
scheme for preventing the insurgents roaming at will from one end of 
the Island to the other, but to make the plan effective he would have 
to construct several trochas, which would be an almost impossible 
task. The length of time required for constructing the trocha, and 
37 



578 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

the necessity of watching it at every point, has led military officers 
to doubt whether the barricade does not cost more than it is worth. 

Outrages Upon American Citizens. 

Much excitement was caused throughout the United States by Wey- 
/er's imprisonment of American citizens, alleging that they were 
giving aid and encouragement to the Cuban forces. One of the 
prisoners, whose case excited universal interest, was Dr. Ricardo 
Ruiz, who, it was reported, had been murdered in a dungeon at Guana- 
bacoa. He was for five years a resident of Philadelphia, having come 
from Cuba in 1875, at the time when the former war was rendering 
the Island a place almost uninhabitable, bringing with him letters of 
introduction from well-known parties in Cuba. He studied dentistry, 
and in 1878 obtained a diploma from the Pennsylvania College of 
Dental Surgery. After having practiced his profession for two years 
he returned to Cuba, but previous to this, after five years' residence 
in the United States, he secured naturalization papers and became an 
American citizen. He settled in Guanabacoa as a dentist, and mar- 
ried a lady to whom he had been engaged before leaving the Island. 
All accounts go to show that he was a man of peaceable disposition. 

He was arrested and confined in prison on suspicion of sympathiz- 
ing with the insurgents, where he remained two years, when his 
death was reported It was claimed by his friends that he had died 
from violence, and that his imprisonment was illegal, as he had never 
had an impartial trial. These reports created indignation in the 
United States, which the Spanish authorities endeavored to allay by 
affirming that an examination after death showed that Dr. Ruiz died 
from natural causes. 

The Case of Julio Sanguilly. 

Almost immediately came a report that another American citi- 
zen had been sentenced to imprisonment for life, and that, too, in 
direct violation of our treaty with Spain, which has been in operation 
for a hundred years, and therefore has all the sanction of time-hon- 
ored piecedent. This treaty specifies the tribunal before which a 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 579 

person charged with treason shall be tried, and it was maintained that 
the provisions of the compact had been unjustly set aside through the 
operation of martial law, by which General Weyler was attempting to 
govern Cuba. 

The Committee on Foreign Relations in the United States Senate 
passed a resolution demanding the immediate release of Julio San- 
guilly, who had been sentenced to life imprisonment. Hot words 
were uttered on the floor of the Senate, and much bitter feeling was 
engendered in the debate which followed the introduction of the reso- 
lution. Notwithstanding the request from the State Department to 
suspend action in the case for a few days, the Senators took the 
question in their own hands and proceeded to act. A multitude of 
eager listeners were present. 

The United States Humiliated. 

Senator Daniel, of Virginia, took the floor in behalf of the 
adoption of the resolution. He said: "Two years ago yesterday 
Julio Sanguilly, an American citizen, was thrown into prison. Two 
years have gone by, and this government has done practically nothing 
for this citizen. Great Britain would have released him as soon as 
one of her battleships could reach Havana. He has been brutally 
treated and condemned on unsworn testimony before military tribu- 
nals. This country and all civilization have been disgraced by 
the treatment meted out to this unfortunate man. Every citizen of 
this country would have patriotically applauded the President if he 
had sent a fleet of American battleships and compelled the release of 
this American citizen, whose country has been insulted by the treat- 
ment accorded to him and to our representative in Cuba." 

Senator Gray, of Delaware, said he was informed that Sanguilly's 
counsel had withdrawn his appeal to Madrid in order to facilitate his 
release. Thereupon, with increased force and manifestly increased 
anger, Senator Daniel said: " If that is true, it is a humiliation to the 
United States that one of her citizens has been compelled by sickness 
and poverty, and delay on the part of this government, to withdraw 
his appeal for justice, in order to secure his release from prison. It 



580 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

means that he has concluded that the United States has abandoned 
her citizen, her legal child, and that he despairs of justice. His ap- 
peal should not be withdrawn. The people of this country should 
compel his unconditional release." 

It was at this point that Senator Frye, of Maine, electrified the 
Senate by saying : " If Sanguilly's counsel has withdrawn the appeal 
of his client, he has done an unjust act which is inexcusable. For, 
by that withdrawal, he leaves Sanguilly a convicted criminal, liable to 
imprisonment for life, and surrenders for Sanguilly and for his family 
all claims for damages against Spain. He surrenders all that Spain 
has contended for. Here, we are contending that Sanguilly has been 
unjustly treated, and that all international law has been violated in 
his case, when his discouraged counsel withdraws his appeal for jus- 
tice. If I had my way, a ship of war would start immediately to 
Havana and deliver him." 

The outbreak in the galleries was such as has not been paralleled 
in years. They were filled with Daughters of the American Revolu- 
tion, and they would not be quieted. Messengers and doorkeepers 
warned them, and finally had to force some of them into their seats 
that order might be restored. Their strong sympathy for Cuba was 
much in evidence. 

News of Sanguilly's Release. 

Later in the day it was announced that the government at Madrid, 
concluding that discretion was sometimes better than valor, had 
ordered General Weyler to release Sanguilly. This had a tendency 
to somewhat allay the excitement, yet a very uneasy feeling and 
excited state of the public mind was apparent, which a breath might 
inflame into a wild burst of indignation. 

General Sanguilly soon arrived at Key West. He was made a 
cripple by the former war, and he now appeared to be in an enfeebled 
condition. Before he descended the gang-plank he was lifted up on 
the shoulders of friends and conveyed to a carriage. In reply to a 
request for a speech, he said he was too fatigued after a rough sea 
yoyage, but thanked his countrymen for the hearty welcome accorded, 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 581 

which he did not take for himself, but, he said, as an evidence of the 
loyalty to the cause dear to the heart of every Cuban. 

On March 1st the President transmitted to Congress important 
dispatches from Consul-General Lee, including telegrams relating to 
the case of Charles Scott. These awakened unusual interest in the 

Senate. 

On February 20th Mr. Lee telegraphed as follows to the State De- 
partment : " Charles Scott, a citizen of the United States, arrested at 
Regla. No charge given. He has been without communication in 
jail at Havana 264 hours. I cannot stand another Ruiz murder, and 
have demanded his release. How many war vessels at Key West or 
within reach, and will they be ordered here at once if necessary to 
sustain demand?" 

General Lee Threatens to Leave Havana. 

On the 23d General Lee said in a cable message: " Situation sim- 
ple. Experience at Guanabacoa made it my duty to demand, before 
too late, that another American who has been incommunicado (with- 
out communication with friends) 264 hours, be released from said 
incommunicado, and did so in courteous terms. If you support it 
and Scott is so released, the trouble will terminate. If you do not I 
must depart. All others arrested with Scott have been put in com- 
munication. Why should the only American in the lot not be? He 
has been incommunicado now 338 hours." 

Later on the same day, the 23d Feb., Mr. Lee wired: " Demand 
complied with. Scott released from incommunicado to-day, on de- 
mand, after fourteen days' solitary confinement in cell five feet by 
eleven, damp, water on bottom of cell. Not allowed anything to sleep 
on or chair. Was charged with having Cuban postage stamps in the 
house. Scott says he went always twelve hours without water ; once 
two days. He was employee of the American Gas Company." 

General Lee's determination to see that every American citizen in 
Cuba should have his rights fully protected, met with a hearty re- 
sponse from all classes of the American people. 



582 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

General Weyler's Career. 

General Valeriano Weyler was appointed Captain-General of Cuba 
to succeed General Martinez Campos in January, 1896. He arrived 
in Havana February 10th, and took the oath of office the following 
day. In November he took the field against Maceo. He learned 
that General Maceo was in the western part of Pinar del Rio. Spanish 
journals were quite certain that the Cuban leader was in a trap from 
which escape was impossible. General Weyler marched his troops 
into the province to entrap Maceo. Other forces were concentrated 
in the vicinity of the military line of Mariel and the Batabano Rail- 
road. The Spanish general, however, paid no attention to Gomez, 
the rebel commander-in-chief, who was in the province of Havana. 

Ten desperate engagements were fought in the space of fifteen 
days after the actual beginning of the campaign, and in none did the 
Spanish gain an advantage. After the battle of Neuva Empressa the 
Cuban leader had little difficulty in moving his men wherever he 
desired. The Spaniards were left in the rear, and Maceo again 
entered Havana province, crossing in his route the western trocha 
near Quivicar. This crossing was made in full view of a large 
Spanish column stationed there to intercept Maceo. 

After a succession of operations in which General Weyler was not 
successful in pacifying the western provinces, the rainy season stopped 
Further progress in the work of conquering the rebellion. Then 
began on the part of the Spanish Government a wonderful movement 
&f reinforcements to the Spanish coast, and as soon as a propitious 
season arrived these were despatched across the ocean to Cuba. 

With the troops already in the field in the Island the force at 
General Weyler's command at the opening of the fall campaign of 
1896-7 was not short of two hundred thousand men. Then General 
Weyler decided to take the field in person. It was said at the time 
that he had been ordered to do so by the Spanish Government. 
This, however, was denied. General Weyler proceded toward the 
mountainous region of Pinar del Rio. He made his headquarters 
near the line of the main railway from Havana to Pinar del Rio city. 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 583 

Thence ne sent out columns to search for the rebels, but he was not 
successful in finding them in force, nor did he fight any decisive 
engagement. 

While he was in the west Maceo met his death at the hands of 
Spanish troops under Major Cirujada. When General Weyler finally 
gave up active operations and seated himself in the palace at Havana 
he announced that Pinar del Rio was practically free from rebel bands. 
It was officially announced by General Weyler on January II, that 
three provinces were practically pacified, and then, by a seeming para- 
dox, he took the field again on January 19. The bulletins issued from 
the Palace announced sweeping victories for the Spanish in Matarzas 
and the other provinces which he had declared pacified, showing that 
the insurgents there were still active. 

The last personal campaign, like the first, was one of destruction, 
and the torch played an important part. When the Captain-General 
left Havana, he did so with the avowed intention of meeting General 
Gomez in Matanzas, but there was no engagement of consequence. 
Gomez eluded the Spanish forces, which outnumbered his own by 
several thousand, and there were only a few skirmishes. In all of 
these the officials in the Palace in Havana claimed victories for Spain^ 
with heavy losses to the insurgents. 

General Ruis Rivera. 

This veteran, who succeeded General Antonio Maceo in the com- 
mand of the Cuban forces in the province of Pinar del Rio, was born 
in Puerto Rico in 1847. General Rivera is the son of a wealthy 
Spanish family; his father was a Spanish colonel. Young Rivera 
was sent to Spain to be educated as a lawyer. W r hen the revolution 
of 1868 broke out, he was studying law in Barcelona; he gave up his 
college career and sailed for Cuba. 

Rivera fought valiantly; he displayed at the head of his troops 
remarkable ability. When the ten years were ended, in 1878, he stood 
out with Maceo in his refusal to accept the terms of the treaty. He 
left the Island without surrendering, and before going he handed his 
machete to Col. Figueredo, his faithful friend, with this injunction: 



584. LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

" This is my true weapon. If I ever return to Cuba to fight for her 
freedom, you shall return it to me. If you ever fight with it, and are 
forced to surrender or leave the fields of Cuba, break it in twain and 
bury it. Let it never fall into the hands of the enemy." 

Rivera saw the war renewed sixteen years after; as soon as he 
was called to his post he left Honduras, where he was prosperous in 
business; he took an expedition to Maceo, which materially strength- 
ened the patriots in the west. His long experience and his splendid 
qualifications have made him conspicuous. He is a man of great 
personal magnetism, and a natural successor to his life-long com- 
panion, General Antonio Maceo. 

The Brave General Captured. 

It was the fate of General Rivera soon to be captured, the story of 
which is dramatic. General Hernandez Velasco left San Cristobal 
under secret orders at noon March 18th, with the Castillo Reina 
battalion and two field pieces and pitched his camp amid the Brujito 
Hills. The insurgents attacked the regulars from the very outset of 
the advance. The Spanish column marched upon Perico Pozo, 
where General Ruiz Rivera awaited them in a strongly entrenched 
position. The result of the engagement that ensued was the defeat 
of the insurgents and the capture of General Rivera. 

Rivera opened fire immediately on seeing the head of the column. 
Colonel Jose Roco advanced with the extreme vanguard, Major 
Sanchez Bernal leading another division under the protection of 
artillery, which shelled the trenches held by Rivera, who was already 
wounded in the thigh. 

One company of the cavalry galloped forward, capturing the 
trenches and seizing as prisoners five men who lay severely mutilated 
by the shells. Colonel Bacallao, on learning that Rivera had been 
wounded, hurried to the trenches and begged the soldiers not to kill 
him. Rivera and Colonel Bacallao were taken into the presence of 
General Velasco, who shook hands with Rivera and introduced him 
to the officers of his staff, giving instructions that the first thing to 
be done was to give him surgical relief. Lieutenant Terry and 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 585 

Colonel Bacallao were also wounded in a fight at the same place on 
March 15th. 

The Castillo battalion secured important documents as well as the 
arms and money of General Ruiz Rivera. The money consisted 
mostly of American gold coin. A number of splendid watches were 
left with General Velasco. The villagers of San Cristobal, who went 
out to receive the small column of Spanish troops, enthusiastically 
cheered the victors. 

He was Accorded the Honors of War. 

General Rivera, who remained quietly in prison, eulogized the 
escort of Spanish soldiers. He said the troops treated him with the 
greatest consideration. He also said the families of the insurgents 
in the camp of the Cubans were in a critical situation. They suffered 
greatly from hunger, and were compelled to go out in search of 
vegetables whenever it was possible to avoid the Spanish troops. The 
insurgents were well supplied with meat, but had no spices. 

General Rivera would say nothing concerning the war or Cuban 
political matters. When asked his name by General Velasco, Rivera 
replied, and made the following request : 

" Give me the honors of war and stretch out to me your hand." 

Rivera afterward conversed with some of the chief officers, and 
offered them tips for services rendered. Velasco, noticing this, said: 
" Soldiers need not money, but honor, which they have." 

One of the shells exploded in the insurgent camp, wounding many 
members of Rivera's staff. Rivera himself received a Mauser ball, 
which caused three serious wounds in the thigh. The moment the 
Spanish infantry entered the trenches Colonel Bacallao raised General 
Rivera on his shoulders as if to carry him off. After his capture General 
Rivera, speaking of the Spanish soldiery, said: "They have treated 
me very carefully." He complained much of the pain of his wounds. 

Captain-General Weyler received the news of Rivera's capture at 
Cienfuegos, where the intelligence was loudly cheered. The Captain- 
General was described as " satisfied " with the result, and received 
cablegrams of congratulations from the Spanish Minister of War and 



586 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

the Spanish Premier, who congratulated him in the name of the 
Queen of Spain. Lieutenant Henry Terry died from his wounds. 
He was a naturalized American. 

President McKinley on the Cuban Situation. 

The long-standing case of Cuba again came to the front in the 
United States Senate on May 17. President McKinley gave the first 
indication of his policy by a special message asking Congress to 
appropriate $50,000 for the relief of suffering Americans in Cuba. 
The President's message read thus : 

" Official information from our Consuls in Cuba establishes the fact 
that a large number of American citizens in the island are in a state 
of destitution, suffering for want of food and medicines. This applies 
particularly to the rural districts of the central and eastern parts. 

" The agricultural classes have been forced from their farms into 

o 

the nearest towns where they are without work or money. The 
local authorities of the several towns, however kindly disposed, are 
unable to relieve the needs of their own people, and are altogether 
powerless to help our citizens. The latest report of Consul-General 
Lee estimates that 600 to 800 are without means of support. I have 
assured him that provision would be made at once to relieve them. 
To that end I recommend that Congress make an appropriation of 
not less than $50,000, to be immediately available for use under the 
direction of the Secretary of State. 

" It is desirable that a part of the sum which may be appropriated 
by Congress should, in the discretion of the Secretary of State, also 
be used for the transportation of American citizens who, desiring to 
return to the United States, are without means to do so." 

The public interest in the subject was shown by the great crowds 
which besieged the galleries throughout the day. Among the occu- 
pants of the diplomatic gallery were Sir Julian Pauncefote, the British 
Ambassador, and Minister Hatch, of Hawaii, and in the reserved gal- 
lery were General Dan Sickles, ex-United States Minister to Spain. 
Neither the Spanish Legation nor the Cuban Bureau in Washington 
was represented in the galleries, so far as could be observed. 



688 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

Two phases of the subject were presented. First came the ques- 
tion of relief to destitute and starving Americans in Cuba. This 
was presented in the President's message as soon as the session 
opened. Immediately following the reading of the message, Mr. 
Davis, chairman Oi die Committee of Foreign Relations, presented a 
favorable report on the joint resolution originally introduced by Mr 
Gallinger, appropriating $50,000 for the relief of American citizens 
in Cuba. There was only one brief speech — from Mr. Gallinger — 
and then the resolution went through by unanimous vote, there being 
no response to the call for nays. It took exactly eighteen minutes 
for the reading of the message, the presentation of the committee 
report, the brief speech and the final passage of the resolution. 

A New Departure. 

In the House of Representatives the resolution was passed without 
dissent. 

Speaking of the President's message, one of our leading journals 
commented as follows : " It is an essentially new departure in inter- 
national affairs, and it is in order for the sticklers for precedent to 
enter fussy protestation, as they did in connection with the Venezu- 
elan question, against the Monroe doctrine, declaring that it was not 
to be found in the code of international law. It is certainly very 
unusual, if not unprecedented, for the Government to make a relief 
appropriation for its own people in some foreign land. The truth is, 
this Cuban situation is wholly exceptional. Here is a little island in 
a state of civil war. It is largely a sectional war, one part of the 
island being in possession of one of the belligerents and the other 
section in the possession of the other belligerent. 

" Several hundreds of our American citizens are in that section of 
the island occupied by Spanish armies, and are suffering, in common 
with the Cubans themselves, from a deliberate policy of starvation. 
Weyler is trying to conquer by famine. That is his fixed purpose, 
and, from the nature of the case, no discrimination is made between 
Spanish subjects in rebellion and American citizens sojourning in the 
island. If the policy of starvation can not be maintained without 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 589 

this indiscrimination, then so much the worse for Weyler and his 
policy. Congress has only to make the appropriation asked for, and 
the relief will go forward, without regard to any collateral conse- 
quences." 

The second phase of the Cuban subject came up in the Senate 
when the Morgan resolution, declaring that a state of war exists in 
Cuba, was taken up. Mr. Wellington, the new senator from Mary- 
land, came forward for his initial speech in the Senate, making a vig- 
orous protest against the resolution, on the ground that it threatened 
war with Spain. He said the first duty of Congress was to pass the 
tariff bill. The senator condemned "jingoism," and gave his indorse- 
ment to President Cleveland's conservatism on the Cuban question. 

Warm Words in Behalf of Cuba. 

Senator Daniel, of Virginia, said the senator from Maryland (Wel- 
lington) had " taken a shot at creation " while presumably discussing 
the pending resolution. He had gone into the tariff, currency, the 
late and the present administrations in their various ramifications. 
Mr. Daniel asserted that the Maryland senator entirely misappre- 
hended the resolution in declaring that it involved hostility to Spain. 
In sarcastic tones Mr. Daniel referred to Mr. Wellington's statement 
that some debt of gratitude existed because Spain had produced a 
Christopher Columbus. " It were better had there been no Colum- 
bus," said Mr. Daniel, " if America was to continue a savagery that 
prevailed here before the country was discovered." The senator then 
took up the legal questions involved in the recognition of belligerency. 

After concluding his legal argument on the powers of Congress 
and the President, Mr. Daniel branched to the general subject of 
Cuba, and again aroused the keenest attention by his vigorous words. 
The diplomacy of Spain had succeeded for two and one-half years, 
he said, in blinding American diplomacy in the belief that war did 
not exist in Cuba. But the world knew that war existed there, high- 
handed, red-handed, bloody, cruel war. It is a war in which Spain 
employs more troops than England employed in seeking to put down 
the American revolution. 



590 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

And yet senators were met with the statement that a recognition 
of a sts.te of war in Cuba would be inimical to Spain. He denied 
that the recognition of an existing fact could be construed as a hos- 
tile act, but in any event the fact should be recognized and the great 
influence of the United States thrown toward the cause of civilized 
and Christian usage. It might subject some American vessels to 
search, but this would be a small matter compared with the results 
achieved. It might give Spain a right to blockade Cuba, but in that 
Spain would suffer more than the United States. 

A Calamity Greater than War. 

"It is said this means war," continued Mr. Daniel. "I deny it. 
If Spain should declare war against us because we recognized the 
belligerency of her former subjects, who had carried on a war for two 
and one-half years, she would have an unjust cause of complaint and 
war against us, and we will have a just cause of complaint and war 
against her. I do not wish to see the American people involved in 
war. I look upon war as one of the greatest calamities that can befall 
a people. But it is a greater calamity for the high public spirit of a 
great nation to be so deadened that it can look upon murder and 
arson and pillage with indifference and for the public spirit of that 
nation to be so dead as to delay one instant in doing an act of justice 
because of fear of war." 

During the debate Senator Mason, of Illinois, made a bold, patri- 
otic and eloquent speech, denouncing Spanish atrocities in Cuba. 
The inhuman barbarities inflicted upon innocent people, the savage 
attacks made upon them and their expulsion from their own homes, 
condemned to suffering and starvation, were depicted in burning 
language. Among other things he said: " Here is the proof in the 
communication of the President, stating that 800 citizens of the 
United States have been driven from their homes, and are destitute. 
Who forced them there? Was it the Insurgents? Then, there is 
war in Cuba. Was it the Spaniards? Then, if there is no war, there 
ought to be, and with us. Eight hundred Americans driven from 
home starving, and still some senators say it is not much of a war." 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 591 

Again and again the galleries broke into loud applause as the 
sturdy Senator expressed in eloquent terms the feeling of the Ameri- 
can people. The excitement was at white heat ; handkerchiefs 
waved ; cheers burst forth that could not be repressed. 

Senator Foraker, of Ohio, produced an unpublished letter of Secre 
tary Olney, addressed to the Spanish government in April, 1896, in 
which the President offered to Spain the mediation of the United 
States to bring the war to a close, which was firmly refused by the 
Spanish government, who stated, through their minister at Washing- 
ton, that there was no effectual way to pacify the Cubans except 
upon the condition that they should first submit to the mother 
country. 

The Morgan Resolution. 

Mr. Foraker's speech was delivered with much warmth and earnest- 
ness. Several of his well-rounded periods, in which sympathy was 
expressed with the struggling Cubans, and in which the cruelties and 
barbarities of the Spanish military forces were denounced, called 
forth demonstrations from the galleries. 

The Morgan resolution declared : " That a condition of public waj 
exists between the Government of Spain and the Government pro- 
claimed and for some time maintained by force of arms by the people 
of Cuba, and that the United States of America shall maintain a strict 
neutrality between the contending parties, according to each all the 
rights of belligerents in the ports and territory of the United 
States." 

The resolution received in its favor the votes of 18 Republicans, 
19 Democrats, and 4 Populists; 12 Republicans and 2 Democrats 
voted against it — a total vote of 41 to 14. 

Early in May President McKinley sent Hon. W. J. Calhoun, of 
Illinois, as a special commissioner to Cuba, who was charged pri- 
marily with helping Consul-General Lee to investigate the circum- 
stances surrounding the death of Dr. Albert Ruiz in a Spanish prison. 
The Spanish government was represented by Dr. Congosto, Spanish 
Consul at Philadelphia. Under date of May 28th a reliable corres- 
pondent in Cuba made public the following communication : 



592 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

" There will be trouble over the Ruiz investigation. In fact, there 
has been trouble already. It will be set down in the future as an 
irritant in the relations between Spain and the United States, whereas 
President McKinley built hope of another kind upon it. 

" In ten days the joint commission, of which General Lee and Dr. 
Congosto are the heads, has had exactly one session, which had little 1 
result beyond showing General Lee and Mr. Calhoun how little they 
might expect. 

" The delay has been caused by Dr. Congosto on the flimsiest pre- 
text, and the Spanish representative, too, by talking recklessly about 
General Lee, and other Consuls came within an ace of being told 
that the American representatives would have nothing more to do 
with him personally and officially. 

Dr. Ruiz in His Cell. 

" Ruiz died, according to the surgeons, from congestion of the 
brain, caused by a blow or blows. When General Lee and Mr. Cal- 
houn visited the jail in Guanabacoa, they were shown the cell in 
which the Spanish say that Ruiz died. 

" The guard explained to General Lee and Mr. Calhoun that he 
heard thumping on the inside of the door, and when he opened it 
and went in, Ruiz was running at the heavy door and butting it with 
his head. 

" Ruiz had only one wound on the top of his head. Had he butted 
this door, as the jailor says he did, his scalp must necessarily have 
been lacerated in several places. 

" The American representatives have decided that they will not ask 
a single question of the guards if they are called, feeling it absurd to 
waste time on them under the circumstances. Dr. Congosto has 
been told plainly that from all that is known the testimony of these 
men would not be received in any court in the United States, unless 
they were prisoners and chose to speak in their own defence. 

" The Americans asked for the official record of the arrest of Ruiz 
and the charges made against him. Dr. Congosto said that the 
record was in Madrid. It has not been furnished." 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 593 

General Weyler succeeded for ten days in concealing from every 
one in Havana the startling news that the city of Santiago de Cuba, a 
Spanish stronghold considered to be as impregnable as Havana itself, 
was raided and practically captured early in September by the insur- 
gents. They remained there nearly all day, and retired only after 
securing a very large amount of valuable plunder. 

Capture of Arms and Ammunition. 

The insurgents entered Santiago de Cuba, most unexpectedly to the 
Spaniards, on September 8, by way of El Sueno ward, and, dispersing 
the detachments from the garrison that attempted to check them, they 
advanced to the Marte Square, which is in the heart of the city. 
There a strong body of the Spanish garrison was defeated, and the 
Spanish took refuge in the forts. Two Spanish gunboats which were 
in the port approached the city to bombard it upon the first order 
from the Spanish military commander. Meanwhile the insurgents 
were plundering the principal stores and capturing arms and ammu- 
nition from the volunteers, who were scattered through the city. 
When they had completed their work they retired, because the bom- 
bardment from the Spanish forts and gunboats would surely damage 
the many Cuban families living in their own houses in the city. 

Murder" were committed by the Spanish in Cuban hospitals every 
day, and the terrible retaliation of the insurgents on the Spanish 
guerrillas continued. The guerrillas were slain whenever they were 
caught by the Spanish soldiers. 

Among the hills of Lastra, between La Salud and Quivican, Hav- 
ana province, a Spanish spy discovered a Cuban hospital, and imme- 
diately piloted the dreadful guerrillas of Bejugal to the place, 
Thirty-two Cubans, sick and wounded, with their wives and children, 
were assassinated. Near Guane, in Pinar del Rio province, after a 
hard fight in which the Cubans, commanded by Major Luis Laza, sur- 
rounded the Spanish forts, a Spanish detachment of twenty-five guer- 
rillas was captured, and all the prisoners were killed with the machete. 

General Montaner, with 2.000 Spanish soldiers tried to capture a 
filibustering expedition near Harmonia, Santa Clara province. He 
38 



594 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

arrived too late, and found only twenty-six empty boxes and one 
small open boat left on shore by the filibustering steamer. On return- 
ing from the coast the insurgents, under Alvarez, attacked him, and 
a fierce fight ensued, in which eleven Spanish guerrillas of the " Guer- 
rilla of Death,'' well known throughout the province for their massa- 
cres of peaceful citizens and their raids on Cuban hospitals, fell into 
the hands of the revolutionists. Two hours later they were all hanged 
in the neighboring forest. 

A train was blown up with dynamite by the insurgents between Man- 
gas and Punta Brava, Pinar del Rio province. The locomotive was 
shattered and many Spanish soldiers were killed and wounded. The 
Spanish forces of Candelaria advanced to attack the Cubans, who were 
under command of General Perico Diaz. A hard fight was the result. 
It lasted several hours, with heavy losses on both sides. 

President McKinley's Decisive Action, 

When President McKinley appointed General Woodford Minister 
to Spain, it was commonly believed that vigorous measures would be 
adopted by our Government to bring the war in Cuba to a close. 
General Weyler, with his army of 200,000 Spanish troops, appeared 
to be no nearer subduing the revolutionists than when he landed on 
the Island. Bombastic reports had been sent by him to Spain affirm- 
ing that several provinces had been brought into subjection, and the 
long and bloody struggle was nearly ended. Facts, however, dis- 
proved these statements, as facts in so many instances before had 
shown that statements sent out from the Governor's palace at Havana 
were false. 

There was a universal feeling in the United States that our country 
was losing much by the continuance of the war. Very little trade 
was carried on with Cuba and the Island was desolated from one end 
to the other. The torch had consumed beautiful residences ; the 
finest plantations had been destroyed; thousands had lost their lives, 
and multitudes were impoverished ; peaceful citizens had been driven 
into the towns where, unable to obtain food, they were in danger of 
starvation. A reign of terror existed in nearly every part of the island. 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 595 

Under these circumstances it is not strange that the people of the 
United States hoped that President McKinley's administration would 
adopt most rigorous measures to end the long and terrible struggle. 
It was understood that instructions to this effect had been given to 
General Woodford before he left New York for Madrid. Unusual 
measures were taken to protect him on his journey from San Sebas- 
tian to the Spanish capital, but the trip was quite uneventful. A 
party of gendarmes, commanded by a sub-lieutenant, guarded the 
Southern Express, on which he was a passenger. Secret police were 
posted at the station, and the prefect of police was in waiting to 
escort him to his hotel. The drive through the streets was marked 
by no special incident, though several people saluted him, receiving 
a bow in return. 

Fear of Anarchists. 

The Spanish Government protected our Minister, as it does all 
prominent officials ; not because of fear that public sentiment might 
crystallize into mob violence, but because Spain and other European 
countries are infested with Socialists and Anarchists, any one of 
whom might be unexpectedly guilty of some overt act. 

The Government of Spain fully understands that any act of vio- 
lence upon the Minister from this country might arouse our populace 
beyond the bounds of reason, and possibly beyond the control and 
direction of our conservative administration. Therefore, our Minister 
was carefully guarded, so that there might be neither excuse nor 
palliation for complaint on the part of this Government in the event 
that some irresponsible person should make himself infamous by 
seeking to become famous. So it was stated at Madrid, yet there is 
no denying that the public feeling was profoundly excited. 

General Woodford immediately called upon the Spanish authorities 
and presented his credentials. He stated afterward that his con- 
ference with the Duke of Tetuan, the Foreign Minister, was of the 
most satisfactory character. The unexpected bitterness of the press 
and of public opinion painfully impressed him, but he hoped this 
would soon be allayed, as he considered his mission favorable to 



596 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

Spanish interests, and could not believe that Spain would reject 
mediation designed to end an impoverishing war. He did not name 
any time at which the war must be terminated, but he trusted, as the 
result of his friendly offices, that it would be ended quickly. 

He gave the Spanish Government to understand that the war was 
inflicting great losses upon the United States, and that it was im- 
possible to prevent filibustering expeditions. While our Government 
wished to abide by international law and maintain peace with a 
friendly nation, so many were the friends of Cuba in our country and 
so great were the opportunities for sending expeditions to aid the 
insurgents, that it was impossible to prevent all filibustering. 

Downfall of the Government at Madrid. 

On September 29 it was announced at Madrid that the Spanish 
Cabinet had resigned. The news was startling, for it was instantly 
felt that there was a crisis in the Cuban revolution and that Minister 
Woodford was making his power felt in Spain. It was well under- 
stood that the administration thus suddenly brought to a close had 
been friendly to General Weyler, and had supported him in all his 
severe measures for conquering the Cuban people. If the Liberals 
in Spain came into power, it was believed that General Weyler would 
be recalled and there would be an earnest effort to find some means 
of bringing the war to a close. 

The Queen Regent of Spain accepted the resignations of her 
Ministry and called Senor Sagasta to be the head of the new Govern- 
ment. The prospect of his returning to power was well received in 
political and financial circles, and the decision shown by the Queen 
Regent in hastening the solution of the Cabinet crisis was much 
praised. 

People jumped to the conclusion that a change of Government at 
Madrid would immediately affect Cuban affairs and the relations of 
the Spanish Government with this Republic. There was no apparent 
ground for such inferences or conclusions. Sagasta did not pledge 
himself to make any great changes in the Spanish policy toward Cuba, 
yet it will soon be seen that he was dissatisfied with the situation. 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 597 

There is much evidence to show that from the first it was the policy 
of President McKinley to endeavor to secure self-government for 
Cuba, while causing the Island to remain a colonial possession of 
Spain, with a Governor-General to be appointed by the Crown. This 
would render Cuba practically free, and Spain would enjoy the fiction 
of sovereignty over her last American possession. 

On September 30 it was announced that General Nunez, head of 
the department of Cuban supplies, had returned from Cuba where he 
had a lengthy interview with Generals Gomez and Garcia and 
officers of the Republican Government. " The present crisis in 
Spain," he said, " is due entirely to the presence of Mr. Woodford 
at Madrid and his conference with the Minister of Foreign Affairs, 
the Duke of Tetuan. Undoubtedly Mr. Woodford has demanded 
several concessions from the Spanish Government which have em- 
barrassed the Cabinet to such an extent that they resigned rather 
than try to grant them. 

Possible Settlement of the Conflict. 

" I think Mr Woodford has taken a decisive step and it is high 
time, as the United States has been in a most embarrassing position 
for many months. The people of the country favor Cuban freedom, 
the Executive and Congress fail to interfere." 

General Nunez was asked if he had heard of a rumor to the effect 
that an important communication had been received by the Spanish 
Government from the leaders of the Cuban insurgents suggesting the 
basis of a possible settlement of the difficulties ? 

"That is entirely possible," he said, "and I would not be surprised 
if General Gomez has made an offer. He communicated with the 
United States Government to the same effect during Cleveland's 
administration, and the Cubans are willing to buy their freedom. 
Remember they will have freedom and any negotiations must be to 
that effect. Cuba will never, never accept anything less than positive 
freedom from Spain. If the present war should not bring it a later 
one will. We fought twelve years in one struggle and are prepared 
to keep up the conflict until we gain the desired end." 



598 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

It was known that the new Spanish Premier, Sagasta, before he 
assumed the reins of government, was dissatisfied with the conduct 
of the war. As late as September 14th, referring to the Cuban in- 
surrection, he said the uprising, instead of dying out, was spreading 
considerably. He added that the situation in the Philippine Islands 
was serious. He asserted that the Carlist propaganda in Spain could 
not be viewed with indifference, and he expressed the belief that a 
reconciliation between the political parties in Spain was impossible 
so long as the Conservatives were in power. 

Captain Wiborg Liberated. 

While the public were awaiting the action of the new Spanish 
Cabinet an incident occurred which will be of interest to all readers. 
Captain Wiborg, an alleged filibuster, was arrested in Philadelphia, 
in November, 1895, by Deputy United States Marshall Lloyd, on the 
charge of violating the neutrality laws in carrying arms and ammu- 
nition to Cuba while serving as commander of the steamship Horsa. 
He was tried in the United States Court, before Judge Butler, in 
March, 1896, and, after being found guilty, he was sentenced to six- 
teen months' imprisonment. On March 19th, after serving two days 
of his sentence, he was released from the Eastern Penitentiary, his 
case having been taken to the Supreme Court by his counsel, W. W. 
Ker, when a stay was granted. 

The Supreme Court, at its next session, sustained the action of the 
lower court, and on July 6, 1896, Captain Wiborg began serving h : z 
term of sixteen months' imprisonment. In the meanwhile he had 
been honored by being one of the distinguished guests at a public 
meeting of one of the city's most fashionable clubs. 

He served out his sentence, but was unable to pay the fine that had 
been imposed. Commenting on this, one of the public journals said : 
" Last Saturday, in the Eastern Penitentiary of the great Keystone 
Commonwealth, there expired the regular term of imprisonment oi 
a bronze-bearded Dane, who risked his liberty in behalf of the free- 
dom of the oppressed people of the Star of the Caribbean Sea. On 
that day Captain J. H. J Wiborg, of Holstein, Denmark, commander 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 599 

of the steamship Horsa, alleged to have been engaged in aiding 
Americans to help Cubans to throw off the yoke of the Spanish 
Kingdom, finished the term of imprisonment of sixteen months 
placed upon him by a United States court. Yet he still languishes 
in jail, because there was added, as a penalty for his alleged misde- 
meanor, a fine of $300 and costs, making a total of $500, which, un- 
less paid, will subject him to an additional imprisonment of thirty 
days. No one has come forward to say that this man's confinement 
shall no longer continue ; probably because no one has been informed 
of the fact." 

Friends Come to the Rescue. 

A public subscription was immediately started and tne next day 
the same journal said : " Friends of Cuba and lovers of liberty and 
fair play have been quick to respond to the call for subscriptions to 
pay the fine, his inability to pay which would keep him behind prison 
bars for another month. His term has expired. He has paid the 
penalty, so far as time is concerned, of aiding the struggling patriots of 
Cuba to wage war against the tyrannies of Spanish rule. But there 
is money to be paid. A fine and the costs of the case. 

" The former captain of the steamer Horsa spent his last penny in 
defending his case, but the law says that he must pay now or locks 
and bars will keep him from freedom for thirty dayj. The captain's 
wife is living on the charity of friends and must continue to so live 
until he regains his liberty and can again earn the wages or a 
thorough seaman." 

On the day following the same journal made the pleasant announce- 
ment : " Wiborg is free. He, the daring captain of the celebrated 
Horsa ; he, the Cuban aider and patriot ; he, the lover of liberty, was 
last night released from the Eastern Penitentiary, where for fifteen 
months and two days he had been imprisoned, deprived of the very 
freedom for which he had so valiantly and untiringly contended. 

''It was a happy moment for the representatives of this journal 
when, as the big gong rang out the hour of 10 through the white- 
washed corridors of the prison, they presented the release to the 



600 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

authorities and were led to Wiborg's cell ; it was a still happier" 
moment for Wiborg himself, and all the more so on account of the 
surprising nature of the glad tidings, for, although he had been inform- 
ed of the efforts in his behalf, he had not hoped to become free again 
for at least another twenty-four hours. Indeed, while our representa- 
tives were making their way to his cell he was wrapped in sleep, all 
unconscious of the freedom awaiting him just outside the bolted door 
of his whitewashed cell. 

" Cuba Will be Free." 

"When first awakened he did not grasp the full meaning of the words 
addressed to him. Five minutes later he did though, for then it was 
that he stepped forth, in company with friends, from the last prison 
door between durance vile and the outer world and liberty. And then 
it was that the hale upholder of freedom said in answer to a question, 
while a smile, full of meaning spread over his honest features : ' " Yes, 
I'm free, and Cuba will be free, too." ' 

In a few seconds the big doors of the gruesome-looking structure 
swung behind Captain Wiborg and his friends, and once again the 
Danish skipper, who had risked his life and served a term of imprison- 
ment because he had assisted the Cubans in their heroic struggle for 
liberty, was a free man. 

At midnight, October 8th, it was announced at Madrid that the 
Cabinet had decided upon the immediate recall of General Weyler 
from Cuba, and a decree would be issued, appointing Captain-General 
Blanco Governor General of the island. The Queen Regent would 
sign the decree at once. It was also stated that 20,000 reinforcements 
would accompany General Blanco to Cuba. 

Already there had been a demonstration in Havana in favor of 
retaining General Weyler, which, it was shrewdly suspected, had not 
only been authorized, but even inspired by himself. It was openly 
asserted that he found his position too profitable to be willing to part 
with it. The demonstration was spectacular and was a good deal 
overdone, much after the manner of a party demonstration in which 
the followers of some political " boss " have received orders to hurrah. 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 601 

Nevertheless Captain-General Weyler found it necessary to resign. 
In the course of the cable message sent by him to Premier Sagas- 
ta, placing his post in Cuba at the disposal of the Government he 
said : 

'• If the functions with which the government had entrusted me had 
been merely those of Governor General of Cuba, I should have has- 
tened to resign. But the twofold character of my mission and my 
duty as commander-in-chief in the face of the enemy prevent my 
tendering a resignation. 

General Weyler Resigns his Office. 

" Nevertheless, although I can rely upon the absolute, uncondition- 
al support of the autonomist and constitutional parties, as well as upon 
public opinion, this would be insufficient without the confidence of 
the Government, now more than ever necessary to me after the cen- 
sure of which I have been made the object by the members and 
journals of the Liberal party and by public opinion in the United 
States, which latter is largely influenced by the former. This confi- 
dence would be necessary to enable me to put an end to the war, 
which has already been virtually concluded from our lines at jucaro 
to Cape Antonio." 

Senor Sagasta replied : " I thank you for your explanation and 
value your frankness, I wish to assure you that the Government 
recognizes your services and values them as they deserve, but it 
thinks a change of policy, in order to succeed, requires that the 
authorities should be at one with the ministry." 

Captain General Ramon Blanco, successor to General Weyler, has 
had his chief experience in the Philippines, where he was for a time 
Governor General, ending his career there in 1 894, and for his ser- 
vices, receiving the rank of Marshal in May, 1895. In August, 1896, 
he reported to the Spanish Minister of the Colonies the existence of 
an extensive plot aiming at the independence of the islands. This 
rapidly took on the proportions of a formidable insurrection, which 
the efforts of General Blanco were powerless to check. In Septem- 
ber of that year he narrowly escaped assassination. 



602 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

A plot was formed to surprise the garrison at Manila, to seize the 
headquarters, and to murder the Captain-General. It was discovered 
just in the nick of time, and more than one hundred persons were 
arrested for complicity in it. Prior to this, General Blanco had not 
resorted to extreme measures; but, spurred on by the personal 
danger to which he had been exposed, he issued a decree ordering 
that all property belonging to residents of the Philippine Islands who 
had been implicated in the rebellion should be forfeited for the bene- 
fit of the Government, a week's grace being offered to those who were 
willing to surrender. 

Story cf Evangelina Oisneros. 

But neither this decree nor General Blanco's military tactics nor 
other exceptional measures which he took to repress the rebellion 
prevented it from spreading, and in December, after a broad hint 
from the Government that his methods were not sufficiently severe, 
he tendered his resignation. Shortly after this Marshal Blanco was 
appointed Chief of the Military Household of the Queen Regent. 
He has been described as the " softest-hearted soldier in Spain," and 
his whole career indicates his disposition to employ mild rather than 
violent measures. 

An incident occurred in October which plainly showed the interest 
taken by the American people in Cuban affairs, and their sympathy for 
thecauseofthe insurgents. EvangelinaCisneros,nieceof President Cis- 
neros of the Cuban Republic, accompanied her father to the Isle of Pines 
whither he had been banished by the Spanish authorities at Havana. 

His offence, of course, was his love of liberty and his efforts in be- 
half of Cuban Independence. His daughter, well educated, culti- 
vated, popular socially, and remarkable for her striking personal 
appearance, clung to her father and determined to share his sufferings 
in his exile. It was reported, and subsequent events confirmed the 
report, that a Spanish officer became charmed with her, showed her 
many attentions, and, to gain her favor, granted her father many 
liberties. Her love for Cuba, however, was as ardent as ever and 
was not to be bought. 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 603 

She rejected the attentions of the officer, and particularly his pro- 
posal that she should compromise her honor. Failing to gain his 
ends, he became the avowed enemy of Miss Cisneros, accused her of 
plotting against the cause of Spain, and she was arrested and sent to 
a prison in Havana. 

Public Indignation. 

It is not surprising that such a high-handed outrage became known 
and awakened indignation. The family of the young lady is one of 
best known and influential in Cuba. When the story of her wrongs 
was published in this country it created universal comment. The 
friends of Cuba were aroused and adopted active measures to secure 
the fair prisoner's release. In fact, so much was said, and so pro- 
found was public interest in the case, that it was likely to have a bear- 
ing on the relations of Spain with our own country. Quite likely 
some of the statements and some of the demands of the public press 
ware extravagant, yet the main facts were well authenticated, and 
there was a wide public demand that Miss Cisneros should receive 
her liberty and should not suffer for the heroic part she had been 
acting in favor of the country she and her people loved so much. 

The story of her escape from the prison in Havana is thrilling ancf 
romantic. One day two gentlemen, respectable in appearance, rented 
a house adjoining the prison. No questions appear to have been 
asked concerning the use they intended to make of it, and no suspi- 
cions were awakened. The sequel proved that this house would not 
have been rented if it had not adjoined the prison in which the niece 
of the President of Cuba was confined. She was allowed some privi- 
leges not ordinarily granted to insurgents who are incarcerated, and 
seems to have known that outside friends were making efforts to lib- 
erate her. A New York journal had a correspondent in Havana, 
whom we will allow at this point to tell his story : 

" I have broken the bars of prison and have set free the beautiful 
captive of Monster Weyler, restoring her to her friends and relatives, 
and doing by strength, skill and strategy what could not be accom- 
plished by petition and urgent request of the Pope. Weyler could 



604 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

blind the Queen to the real character of Evangelina, but he could 
not build a jail that would hold against enterprise when properly set 
to work. 

" To-night all Havana rings with the story. It is the one topic of 
conversation. Everything else pales into insignificance. No one re- 
members that there has been a change in the Ministry. What mat- 
ter if Weyler is to go ? Evangelina Cisneros has escaped from the 
jail, thought by everyone to be impregnable. A plot has been 
hatched right in the heart of Havana — a desperate plot — as shown 
by the revolver found on the roof of the house through which the 
escape was effected, and as the result of this plot, put into effect 
under the very nose of Spanish guards, Evangelina is free. How 
was it done ? How could it have been done ? 

Kept in Concealment. 

" These are questions asked to-night by the frequenters of the 
cafes throughout the city, where the people of Havana congregate. 
It is conceded by all, by the officials of the palace included, to be 
the most daring coup in the history of the war, and the audacity of 
the deed is paralyzing. No one knows where Evangelina is now, 
nor can know. 

" To tell the story of the escape briefly, I came here three weeks 
ago, having been told to go to Cuba and rescue from her prison Miss 
Cisneros, a tenderly-reared girl, descended from one of the best 
families in the Island, and herself a martyr to the unsatisfied desires 
of a beast in a Spanish uniform. I arrived at Cienfugos late in Sep- 
tember, telegraphed to a known and tried man in Santiago de Cuba 
to meet me in Havana, and then went to Santa Clara, where I picked 
up a second man, known to be as gritty as Sahara, and then pro- 
ceeded to Havana. 

" Here I remained in almost absolute concealment, so as to avoid 
the spies that dog one's steps wherever one may go, and make im- 
possible any clever work of this kind. Both the men who accom- 
panied me, Joseph Hernandon and Harrison Mallory, pursued the 
same course*, -and remained quiet until all plans bad been completed. 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 605 

" The fact that Miss Cisneros was incommunicado made the at- 
tempt seem at first beyond the possibility of success, but we finally, 
through Hernandon, who was born on the Island and speaks Spanish 
like a native, succeeded in sending a note to her through an old 
negress, who called upon one of her friends in the prison. A keeper 
got this note through two hands to Miss Cisneros, and three keepers 
later got to her a package of drugged sweets. Having established 
communication with her, we began work without losing a day." 

Over Two Roofs to Freedom. 

The drugged candies were passed around to the other inmates of 
the room in which Miss Cisneros was confined — eleven women 
charged with political offences — and they slept soundly on the night 
appointed for the escape. By sawing the prison bars and making 
use of a rope ladder and wooden bridge, the young lady passed over 
the roofs of the two buildings and placed herself in the custody of 
her daring captors. 

She soon after arrived in New York, her coming being; chronicled 
as follows in one of the city journals : " Evangelina Cisneros, one 
week ago a prisoner among the outcast wretches in a Havana prison, 
is a guest at the Waldorf Hotel. Surrounded by the luxury and 
elegance, she is alternately laughing and crying over the events of 
one short week. One week ago last night a correspondent broke the 
bars of her cell and led her to liberty over the flat roofs of the Cuban 
capital. It is the memory of those thrilling few minutes that meant 
for her a lifetime of captivity or a future of peace and liberty that 
most often occurs to her now. 

" She arrived to-day on the Ward liner, Seneca, and was taken from 
the steamer by a boat at quarantine, thanks to the courtesy of the 
Government and quarantine authorities. When the Seneca sailed 
from Havana there figured on the passenger list one Juan Sola. A 
girl who signed the name Juana Sola to the declaration, exacted by 
the Custom House officers, was the nearest passenger to making good 
the lost one. Her declaration was that she brought nothing dutiable 
into the country. 



606 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

" If ever that declaration was truthfully made, it was made in the 
case of this brown-eyed, chestnut- haired girl, who was so anxious to 
please the man who made her sign. All she had was the simple red 
gown she had on her back and a bundle that contained a suit of clothes 
such as a planter's son might have worn. 

" Those were the clothes that Juan Sola wore when he run up the 
gang-plank in Havana, with a big hat slouched over the chestnut hair 
that even danger of discovery could not tempt her to cut, and a fat 
cigar between a red, laughing pair of lips that accidentally, maybe, 
blew a cloud of smoke into the face of the chief of police, who was 
watching that plank and made the features of the young man very 
indistinct indeed. 

" There was no reason the chief of police should scan too closely 
the young man with the big cigar. Juan Sola's passport had been 
duly issued by the Spanish Government, and as far as the papers 
showed there was no reason to suspect him. 

Disguised in a Boy's Suit of Clothes. 

" Of course, Juan Sola was the girl the correspondent had rescued 
from prison, and the fame of whose escape was on every tongue 
in Havana, the girl for whose capture the police had for three days 
been breaking into houses and guarding the roads, and yet she passed 
under their noses with no disguise but a boy's suit of clothes. 

" Miss Cisneros did not court danger any more than was necessary, 
and at once went to her cabin. The next day, however, when Morro 
Castle was left far behind, she appeared on deck, transformed into 
Senorita Juana Sola, alias Evangelina Cisneros. 

" When the ship sighted Cape Hatteras light the young woman 
asked what light it was, and when told that it was an American bea- 
con she knelt down in the saloon and prayed. After that she wept 
for joy. She must have been all strung up with excitement over her 
experiences, and when she saw the light she could contain herself no 
longer, but simply overflowed. 

" Nothing could be seen of the Cuban girl as the Seneca slowed 
opposite quarantine to permit the boarding of the health officer. 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 607 

The other passengers after the habit of ocean travelers, grouped 
amidships to scan the vessel of the tyrant, who had it in his power 
to lock them all up in quarantine. The girl was hidden away in her 
stateroom, wondering what reception awaited her in the big city 
whose sky-line broke the horizon ahead. 

" The people on board were kind to her from the moment she re- 
vealed her identity, but at this moment when she had reached the 
haven of refuge, to gain which she and her gallant rescuers had 
risked death itself, she fled from the new-found friends and would not 
even look out the door of her stateroom." 

Details of her Imprisonment a,nd Escape. 

On the way to the hotel she told the story of her imprisonment 
and release. 

"It is a dream, a happy dream," she said, as she settled down into 
the cushions of her carriage. " It has all gone so quickly. It seems 
as if I must wake up and find myself looking out through those bars 
again and wondering if I should ever see the sky uncrossed by iron. 

" It was only yesterday or it seems so, that 1 was hiding in the 
house of those good friends of mine in Havana, while the whole city 
was hunting me as if I was a vicious animal that must be taken or the 
whole city would be in danger. 

" To-day I'm here riding up the most beautiful street I ever dreamed 
of, where every building seems a palace reaching to the skies, in the 
midst of people all happy, all comfortable, all content." 

She spoke of the mother she had never known and of the kind 
family in Saqua that brought her up as their own daughter. She 
traveled all over the Island. Then she went back to her father. He 
was not as wealthy as her foster parents, but he had had enough to 
provide for her and her sisters comfortably, and this father whom she 
had scarcely known became dear to her. 

Then the dark time came and he was seized, and on suspicion that 
the heart of the patriot burned in his bosom, he was exiled to the 
Isle of Pines, a sort of purgatory between liberty in Cuba and the 
hell of the African penal settlements. She could not bear to be apart 
from her father, and soon she went to share his exile. 



608 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

The next day after her arrival in New York she was accorded a 
great public reception in which many thousands participated. 

It was commonly believed that there would not be any interna^ 
tional complications, or trouble of any sort about the escape of Miss 
Cisneros from the Cuban prison in Havana, for the very good reason 
that those who helped her out, as well as those who held her as a 
prisoner, practically agreed that her escape was a necessity. 

Quite Willing to have her Escape. 

It would have been utterly impossible for Miss Cisneros to escape 
from the Cuban prison, to walk on a vessel in the port of Havana in 
open day, and pass the inspection of the Cuban police and detectives, 
even to the extent of examining her passport two days after she had 
escaped from prison, if the Spanish officials had not been made to 
understand that it was necessary for them not to recognize her at any 
time until she had successfully fled from the Island. 

Neither General Weyler nor any of the Spanish authorities in Cuba 
dared publicly confess that they actively or passively aided the escape 
of Miss Cisneros, and the official proclamation from the Military 
Judge of Havana calling upon her to return to prison was simply play- 
ing for the galleries. High Spanish officials in Cuba would have 
been seriously compromised if the true story of the indignities offered 
to Miss Cisneros, when a voluntary prisoner with her father, was 
crystallized m history, and the whole civilized world took up her 
cause with such earnestness that the only hope of escape from very 
serious complications was in practically opening the doors for her 
freedom. 

Of course she was taken out of prison through a top window and 
down over the roof of the prison, and plausible appearances of a miracu- 
lous escape were presented. Generous means were at hand to meet 
the emergency, and to help some of the Spanish officials to escape a 
worse fate than that suffered by the young lady who became the hero 
of the hour in this country, not only among the ardent friends of 
Cuban independence, but among all American men and women with 
Whom love for chivalric justice and fair play to women is paramount. 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 609 

As already stated, it was understood that General Blanco would 
adopt peaceful measures for the suppression of the great insurrection 
in Cuba, General Weyler's harsh measures having failed even in those 
provinces which he boasted he had subdued. It was also understood 
that the new Spanish Cabinet would offer through General Blanco to 
the people of Cuba a system of autonomy, or self-government, by 
which the one great desire for independence on the part of Cuba 
would be satisfied. 

Certain reforms were promised and certain rights and privileges 
were to be guaranteed, and, with these, the Spanish Government, with 
charming innocence, supposed the insurgents would be delighted and 
would at once lay down their arms. But the insurgents knew some- 
thing of Spanish promises and how much, or rather how little, they 
meant. When General Blanco attempted to introduce this wonderful 
system of self-government, the insurgents not only treated it with 
scorn, but warned the messengers who were sent with it to various 
parts of the Island that they would be treated as Spanish spies. 
Absolute independence, and not a false and hypocritical system of 
self-government, offered by Spain to cheat them into submission, was 
what the Cuban people wanted and were determined to have if it cost 
the last drop of blood. 

It Means Extermination. 

Very little fighting was done, but multitudes have perished by an 
enemy as brutal as the sword, that of starvation. General Weyler 
had ordered that in all the provinces still under Spanish authority 
the people should be driven into the towns and fortified strongholds 
where they could be guarded and could be prevented by Spanish 
troops from making further trouble. This infamous order proved to 
be one of extermination, for the innocent people were left to die of 
disease and starvation. 

Meanwhile, much was said both in Spain and in our own country 
concerning the friendly relations existing between the two Govern- 
ments. Our Government at Washington had endeavored to the 
utmost to fulfill every obligation, yet it was openly asserted by the 
39 



610 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

Spanish newspaper press that the insurrection would have been 
stamped out long ago except for the aid secretly furnished from this 
country to the Cuban patriots. It has been evident from the first that 
almost the entire American people have been in hearty sympathy 
with the cause of freedom in Cuba. As an evidence of this President 
McKinley issued an urgent appeal to the American people to send 
relief to the starving multitudes in Cuba whose sufferings were 
described as being most pitiable. 

Honorable Charles W. Russell, Assistant United States Attorney in 
the Department of Justice, went to Cuba on a tour of personal investi- 
gation to ascertain the true condition of the Island. Under date of 
January nth, 1898, Mr. Russell put forth the following statement: 

" I feel it a solemn duty to humanity to make the American people 
realize the terrible distress which exists there. Much has been 
written on the subject, but, judging others by myself, I feel quite sure 
that because we do not commit, and have not in our history com- 
mitted, such atrocities as Spain is committing on that Island the 
American reading public regards the reports as biased by the precon- 
ceived opinions of newspapers or grossly exaggerated. 

Sickening Spectacles. 

" I spent just two weeks in Cuba, visited Havana, went south to 
Jaruco, southwest to Guines, northeast to Matanzas, eastwardly about 
two hundred miles through the middle of the country to San Do- 
mingo, Santa Clara and Sagua la Grande. I visited Marianao, a 
short distance west of Havana, and saw along the railroads thirty or 
forty towns or stations. In Havana I visited the Fossos, the hospital 
prison at Aldecoa, where I talked with the father of Evangelina 
Cisneros, and a place called the Jacoba. I found reconcentrados 
(people who had been driven into the towns) at all three places, and 
begging everywhere about the streets of Havana. 

"The spectacle at the Fossos and Jacoba houses, of women and 
children emaciated to skeletons and suffering from diseases produced 
by starvation, was sickening. In Sagua I saw some sick and ema- 
ciated little girls in a children's hospital, started three days before by 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 611 

charitable Cubans, and saw a crowd of miserable looking reconcen- 
trados with tin buckets and other receptacles getting small allowances 
of food doled out to them in a yard. In the same city, in an old 
sugar warehouse, I saw stationed around the inside walls the remnants 
of twenty or thirty Cuban families. 

" In one case the remnant consisted of two little children, seven or 
eight years old. In another case, where I talked to the people in 
broken Spanish, there were four individuals, a mother, a girl of four- 
teen, and two quite small girls. The smallest was then suffering from 
malarial fever. The next had the signs on her hands, with which I 
had become familiar, of having had that dreadful disease, the beri- 
beri. These four were all that the order of cencentration had left 
alive of eleven. At San Domingo, where two railroads join, the 
depot was crowded with women and children, one of the latter, as I 
remember, being swollen up with the beri-beri, begging in the most 
earnest way of the few passengers. 

No Means of Subsistence. 

" San Domingo is little more than a railroad station in times of 
peace, but at present it has a considerable population living in cabins 
thatched with the tops of royal palm trees, composed of the survivors 
of the reconcentrados. The huts are arranged close together in a 
little clump, and the concentration order required and apparently still 
requires these people to live within a circle of small block houses 
commonly dignified in the dispatches by the name of forts. They 
had no work to do, no soil to till, no seed to plant, and only begging 
to live on. I do not know the exact measure of the dead-line circle 
drawn around them, but there was certainly nothing within it upon 
which a human being could subsist. 

" Practically they are prisoners. At every one of the numerous 
stopping places along the road a similar collection of huts could be 
seen, and at most of them beggars, often nice-looking women and 
beautiful children, invaded the cars. Between the stations, although 
I traveled always by daylight, as the trains do not run at night, and 
was observing as carefully as possible, I saw no signs of the recon- 



612 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

centrados g- ing away from the forts. If they had gone, it takes seeu, 
instruments, land and three or four months to raise the vegetable 
which could be soonest produced, and nowhere away from the block- 
houses was there any sign of vegetables growing. Near the larger 
towns the circle of concentration seemed to be somewhat larger, and 
some planting of vegetables, tobacco, etc., seemed to be going on. 
At this a very few persons, possibly some of them reconcentrados, 
found employment. 

The Whole Land Lying Idle. 

" All along the railroad as far as could be seen, were stretches of 
the most fertile and beautiful country, with very few trees, even on 
the low mountains, and most of these the royal palms. I saw many 
dozens of burned cane fields, and one evening, going from Guines to 
Havana, saw the sky all lighted up along the road with fires princi- 
pally of the tall grass of the country, but partly of cane. The whole 
land was lying perfectly idle except that I saw two or three or four 
sugar mills where cane was growing, but in all such instances the 
mill and cane were surrounded by forts, manned by soldiers who are 
paid, as I was told, by the owners. Except in the cities I saw no 
indication that any relief whatever was being afforded to the starving 
people. Neither in Havana nor elsewhere did any priest, religious 
woman or other person seem to be paying any attention to the wants 
of the starving except that at the Fossos and some other places 
charitable Cubans were nursing the sick. 

"The Church, being a State institution, was, so far as I could see, 
leaving the victims without either bodily or spiritual relief. In fact 
the general air of indifference to suffering which seemed to prevail 
everywhere was astonishing. 

An Appalling Loss of Life. 

" As the country was stripped of its population by the order of 

concentration, it is easy to believe that 400,000 persons were gathered 

behind the forts without being given food, medicine, or means of any 

kind to earn a living, except where in the larger cities some few could 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 613 

find employment in menial offices. Judging by the orphans I was 
shown at Jacoba, Aidecoa and elsewhere, and from all I saw and 
heard, I believe that half of the 400,000 have died as the result of star- 
vation. I know from the official register of the city of Santa Clara, 
which ordinarily has a population of about 14,000, that the deaths for 
November were over IOOO, and the number of deaths for December 
was over 900, and showed an increase, considering the loss of the 
former 1000 from its total population. 

" The exact figures for December are 971. At that city the Gov- 
ernment was distributing 500 single rations per day out of a total 
appropriation for the purpose of $15,000. This was not relief, but a 
mere prolongation of the sufferings of a small part of the reconcen- 
trados of that city. 

Neither Food nor Medicine Provided. 

" So far as any evidence of relief was visible to my eyes or was 
even heard of by me in all my talks on the Island the surviving 
200,000 people are in the same condition and have the same prospect 
of starvation before them as had their kindred who have died. 
There is as much need of medicine now as of food, and they are 
getting neither. 

" The reason given by the Spanish sympathizers in Cuba is that 
the troops must first be fed, and it is certain that many of the soldiers 
are sick and suffering for want of proper food. I saw many myself 
that looked so. I was informed on all sides that they had not been 
paid for about eight months, and that most of the civil officials had 
not been paid for a similar period. It is, therefore, most probable 
that Spain is practically unable to supply the millions which are im- 
mediately necessary to prevent the death of most of the surviving 
reconcentrados, but this leads to political questions, which I desire 

to avoid. 

Something Must be Done. 

" I wish merely to state in such a way as to be convincing that in 
consequence of the concentration of the people some 200,000 Cubans 
are daily suffering and dying from diseases produced by a lack of 



614 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

nourishment in the midst of what I think must be the most fertile 
country in the world, and that something must be done for them on 
a large scale, and at once, or a few months will see their exter- 
mination. 

" So far as I could see they are a patient, amiable, intelligent set 
of people, some of them whom I saw begging having faces like 
Madonnas. They are Americans, probably the oldest Americans of 
European descent. Constant intercourse with the United States has 
made them sympathize with and appreciate us, who are but six 
hours by boat from them, if we do not sympathize with or care for 
them. No order or permission from General Blanco can save the 
lives of many of them. Indeed, many are too far gone to be saved 
by the best care and treatment. 

The Outlook Hopeless for Many of the Sufferers. 

" There was no indication of a cessation of hostilities by the insur- 
gents. If they do not voluntarily cease, their tactics are such that 
Spain cannot conquer them, if at all, before the reconcentrados will 
have had the finishing stroke. But even the speedy termination of 
the war would not save many of them. What they need is instant 
pecuniary assistance to the extent of $20,000 a day, distributed by 
our consuls. Private charity will hardly, it seems, produce that 
amount. Twenty thousand dollars would be but ten cents a piece 
for medicine, clothes and food. When I left Havana I was informed 
that Consul General Lee had received $5000 and some hundreds of 
cans of condensed milk. As there are about 30,000 sufferers in 
Havana alone, the inadequacy of such contributions is manifest. 
Whether Congress should make an appropriation, as in the case of 
the San Domingo refugees and other cases, it is not for me to say, 
but I beg the charitable to believe the statements of facts which I have 
made and try to realize what they mean." 

The foregoing statement made by one of the Government officials 
at Washington reveals a state of things in Cuba that may well arouse 
not only the sympathy but the indignation of our whole country. It 
is the statement of an impartial observer and can be relied upon as 
truthful. 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 615 

A story of the bravery of Americans serving under General 
Gomez and General Calixto Garcia in the eastern provinces of Cuba, 
and an account of the death of W. Dana Osgood, the famous 
University of Pennsylvania football player, was told by Lieutenant- 
Colonel Frederick Funston, who arrived in New York early in 
January, 1898. 

The Colonel had landed in Camaguey in August, 1896, with the 
expedition of Raphael Cabrera, and went at once to Gomez, who was 
then in force near the coast. After Cascorro, Gomez and Garcia 
formed a junction in the early part of October, they moved toward 
Guimaro. Garcia had with him a twelve-pound Hotchkiss rifle and 
four American artillerymen — W. Dana Osgood, the famous Univer- 
sity of Pennsylvania athlete and football player; Latrobeand Janney, 
of Baltimore, and Devine, of Texas. 

The Cubans attacked Guimaro on the morning of October 17th, 
using two of their three guns only because ammunition was scarce. 
They had about 2000 infantry. They opened fire in the morning at 
ranges of from 400 yards to 700 yards, the infantry being protected 
by a breastwork of earth, in which openings were left for the guns. 

Hot Firing all Day. 

The Spanish garrison consisted of 200 men in 1 1 forts, and they 
maintained a hot rifle fire all day. Gradually, however, the Hotch- 
kiss rifle, the fire of which was directed by Osgood, made the largest 
and nearest fort untenable, and it was abandoned by the garrison and 
immediately occupied by Colonel Menocal and forty men. 

One of the Cuban guns was moved forward and stationed in this 
fort in the night, and from that point of vantage the other forts were 
shelled on the following day. 

Naturally the rifles of the garrison were trained most of the time 
upon the man sighting the Hotchkiss in the captured fort, and there, 
leaning over the gun in the early morning, the intrepid Osgood was 
shot through the head. He was carried off by his comrades undet 
fire, and died four hours later. The death of this gallant young 
American was universally lamented, yet many others of similar spirit 



616 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

have held themselves ready to enlist in the cause of Cuban inde- 
pendence. 

On the 1 2th of January, 1898, a riot broke out in Havana, and for 
a time it was feared that Americans residing there were in danger 
from the mob. The Spanish Minister called on the Secretary of State 
in Washington, and conveyed to him the latest information from 
Havana. The Minister told Mr. Sherman that the Havana military 
government would see to it that the danger would be confined to the 
Spaniards themselves, and that measures had been taken to suppress 
the ardor of the officers who were chafing under newspaper criticism, 
and especially the gathering of mobs on the streets. 

He also assured the Secretary that there would be ample protection 
to the American Consulate and American interests in the event of 
any demonstrations against them, but he added that the riot was in 
no sense an anti-American one, and was merely an outbreak on the 
part of the extreme pro-Spanish element against several of the 
autonomist newspapers. 

Reassuring Despatches from General Lee. 

General Lee sent two cipher dispatches to the State Department 
concerning the troubles. One simply gave the facts of the riot briefly 
and added that everything had quieted down. In addition to this, 
General Lee telegraphed the State Department that if he needed a 
war vessel he would cable. 

One of the State Department officials said that the news, although 
the rioting was confined to the Spaniards themselves, was the most 
interesting that had been sent to Washington since the beginning of 
the war. It showed that the way was open for internal dissensions in 
the only city of importance in Cuba, and that the spirit of the rioting, 
meaning the suppression of free speech, demonstrated that the Span- 
iards would need another army to repress the malcontents made by 
the audacious attitude of the military officers toward the independent 
press. Every effort was made by the Spanish authorities at Havana 
to belittle the riotous demonstration, but it is plain that it was an 
ominous uprising. 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 617 

In February an incident occurred which created universal comment 
and threw all other public questions into the background. First, 
there came a rumor that the Spanish Minister in Washington, Senor 
Dupuy De Lome, had written a letter reflecting severely upon Presi- 
dent McKinley and our Government at Washington, on account of 
the policy they were pursuing toward the war in Cuba. 

It was thought by many that the rumor was unfounded, as the 
action of President McKinley and his Cabinet was so conservative 
that no possible occasion of offence could have been given to Spain, 
and, therefore, it was not believed that the Spanish Minister could be 
guilty of a gross insult to the United States. The rumors, however, 
multiplied and in a short time were confirmed. It was openly asserted 
that such a letter had been written, and had fallen into the hands of 
the Cuban Junta in New York and that its text would soon be trans- 
mitted to Washington. 

The Notorious Letter of the Spanish Minister. 

Very soon the public were permitted to read the following most 
extraordinary communication addressed by the Spanish Minister to 
Jose Canelejas, editor of a newspaper at Madrid, who, after having 
traveled in the United States, had gone to Havana, where the letter 
in question was sent. Its translation was as follows : 

" My distinguished and dear friend : You need not apologize for 
not having written to me. I ought to have written to you, but have 
not done so on account of being weighed down with work. 

" The situation here continues unchanged. Everything depends 
on the political and military success in Cuba. The prologue of this 
second method of warfare will end the day that the Colonial Cabinet 
will be appointed, and it relieves us in the eyes of this country of a 
part of the responsibility of what may happen there, and they must 
cast the responsibility upon the Cubans, whom they believe to be so 
immaculate. 

" Until then we will not be able to see clearly, and I consider it to 
be a loss of time and an advance by the wrong road, the sending of 
emissaries to the rebel field, the negotiating with the autonomists, 



618 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

not yet declared to be legally constituted, and the discovery ot the 
intentions and purposes of this government. The exiles will return 
one by one, and when they return will come walking into the sheep- 
fold, and the chiefs will gradually return. 

" Neither of these had the courage to leave en masse, and they will 
not have the courage to thus return. The President's message has 
undeceived the insurgents, who expected something else, and has 
paralyzed the action of Congress, but I consider it bad. 

" Besides the natural and inevitable coarseness with which he 
repeats all that the press and public opinion of Spain has said of 
Weyler, it shows once more what McKinley is — weak and catering 
to the rabble, and, besides, a low politician, who desires to leave a 
door open to me and to stand well with the jingoes of his party. 
Nevertheless, as a matter of fact it will only depend on ourselves 
whether he will prove bad and adverse to us. 

Talking only for Effect. 

" I agree entirely with you that without a military success nothing 
will be accomplished there, and without military and political success 
there is here always danger that the insurgents will be encouraged, if 
not by the Government, at least by part of the public opinion. I do 
not believe you pay enough attention to the role of England. Nearly 
all that newspaper canaille, which swarm in your hotel, are English, 
and while they are correspondents of American journals, they are 
also correspondents of the best newspapers and reviews of London. 

" Thus it has been since the beginning. To my mind the only object 
of England is that the Americans should occupy themselves with us 
and leave her in peace, and if there is a war, so much the better. 
That would further remove what is threatening her, although that will 
never happen. It would be most important that you should agitate 
the question of commercial relations, even though it would be only for 
effect, and that you should send here a man of importance, in order 
that I might use him to make a propaganda among the Senators and 
others, in opposition to the Junta and to win over exiles. 

" There goes Amblarad. I believe he comes too deeply taken up 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 619 

with political matters, and there must be something great or we shall 
lose. Adela returns your salutation and we wish you in the new 
year to be a messenger of peace and take this new year's present to 
poor Spain. 

" Always your attentive friend and servant, who kisses your hands. 

" Enrique Dupuy de Lome." 

Profound Sensation Created by the Letter. 

The authenticity of the letter was not doubted by the Junta. The 
letter af the Junta's office was said to be on the official stationery of 
the Spanish Legation. Its discovery created a profound sensation 
among New York Cubans. No news that had come from Cuba for 
a long time interested them so much. 

The man to whom De Lome wrote was Jose Canelejas, editor of 
the Heraldo in Madrid, the acknowledged organ of the Sagasta Min- 
istry. He has for years been an intimate friend and confidant of 
Sagasta, and was sent out as a sort of unofficial agent for Sagasta 
to sound the Cubans on the autonomy proposition. Armed with 
full credentials from the Madrid Ministry, he reached Havana early 
in December. It was there that he received this letter from his 
friend, Senor de Lome. 

At first it was reported that the Spanish Minister denied having 
written any such letter, but soon afterwards finding that a letter in his 
own handwriting, containing all the allegations charged against him 
was in the hands of the Cuban Junta, and seeing that it was impossi- 
ble to deny its authenticity, he at once admitted his guilt and instantly 
cabled his resignation to the Spanish Government. He also went to 
the State Department in Washington and withdrew his passports, 
thus preventing his abrupt dismissal, which would have added to his 
disgrace. 

The insolent conduct of De Lome thoroughly aroused the indigna- 
tion of the American people, and not a little surprise was expressed 
that a man who had represented his Government for twenty years at 
Washington, and was supposed to be a trained diplomat, should have 
so far forgotten himself as to fling an insult in the face of the Presi- 



620 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

dent The question was freely discussed whether his disgrace and re- 
tirement from his post would have any actual bearing upon the official 
relationship of the United States and Spain with reference to Cuba. 

It was generally agreed that the message had opened the eyes of 
the American people to the duplicity of Spain's agents and their rep- 
resentations toward this country, and had already redounded to the 
benefit of the Cuban cause, inasmuch as it intensified the strong feel- 
ing of sympathy which has characterized the American people since 
the conflict in Cuba began. 

How the Letter was Obtained. 

As soon as the letter of De Lome was given out for publication by 
the Cuban Junta it was branded as a forgery by some of those who 
thought they knew Spain's Minister to this country. But De Lome 
acknowledged the authorship by the resignation of his post. When 
this startling news was flashed over the country it brought to the 
minds of all the next most interesting point in the affair: how was 
the letter obtained ? 

Half a dozen stories regarding this latter feature were published, 
but we are able to publish the true version of the matter. Its author- 
ity is a Cuban of the highest standing in the councils of his party 
and a leading and popular citizen. His information came directly 
from headquarters in New York. Here is the story of the getting of 
the famous letter, which aroused two continents and gave renewed 
strength to the cause of the struggling Cubans: 

The letter was not stolen from the United States mails, but was 
secured by an agent of the Cuban Junta in the post office of Havana. 
Don Jose Canelejas, to whom the letter was addressed, never saw the 
original. He did not know until eight days after the letter reached 
Havana that such a letter from Spain's representative in Washington 
had been written him. De Lome wrote the letter in his private 
residence in Washington instead of at the Spanish Legation. The 
paper, however, was marked with the official type and read in the 
corner " Legation de Espana." The same inscription was upon the 
left-hand upper corner of the envelope. 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 621 

Senor De Lome did not mail the letter from his house. In fact he 
had not quite completed it upon the morning it was written and car- 
ried it to the legation, where it was first seen and noticed by a person 
who was in the employ of the embassy, acting in a sub-official capa- 
city. The letter lay upon the desk of the Minister in his inner office, 
the outer office being his place of reception to visitors. During an 
absence of half an hour from the inner office of De Lome the clerk in 
question saw the open letter and read some of it. 

On its Way to Havana. 

The next day this same person sent word to his Cuban associates 
in Washington to the effect that he had seen a letter from De Lome 
to Canelejas, in which President McKinley was villified and autonomy 
called a scheme. Several of the Cuban leaders got together and 
asked the employee of the Embassy to secure the letter. They did 
not believe implicitly in his story, although he urged them to come 
into the public print and make charges against De Lome. Because 
ihey did not have the letter in their possession the leaders refused to 
.Say anything about it. The employee of the Legation was urged to 
use all means in his power to secure the letter, although it was con- 
sidered probable that the letter was already in the mails when the 
Cubans at the Hotel Raleigh were informed of its existence. 

The clerk in the employ of Minister De Lome saw no more of the 
letter. His memorized abstracts were forwarded to New York, and 
it was quickly agreed that could possession of the letter be obtained 
and his statements proven to be true the letter would be of incalcul- 
able value to the Cuban cause as substantiating what Cuban leaders 
had maintained regarding autonomy and the general Spanish feeling, 
in official circles, toward this country and its officers. Immediately 
words of warning and urgings to be on the alert were sent to every 
Cuban who might be in a position to obtain track of or intercept the 
much-sought-for missive. 

The letter reached Havana five days after its postmark in Wash- 
ington. An agent of the Cuban party who is an employee of the 
Spanish post-office, knew that the letter was on the way, and when it 



622 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

came into his hands it was carried from the post-office and a copy 
was made of it. Word to this effect was sent to the Cuban leader in 
Jacksonville, Fla., who at once asked the secret Cuban Junta in 
Havana to secure the original letter — that a copy was not what was 
desired. The Havana post-office clerk was not willing to do this at 
first, but afterward consented, as he was obliged to account for a cer- 
tain number of letters to other employees of the department. 

Arrested and Discharged. 

The original was then taken, several blank sheets were substituted 
in place of the paper upon which De Lome had written, and the 
letter finally postmarked in the Havana office and sent in its routine 
way. Eight days from its arrival in the Havana office the sealed 
envelope, properly addressed to Senor Canelejas, was delivered at the 
Hotel Inglaterra. Senor Canelejas did not regard the matter se- 
riously at the time, although the hotel boy who brought him the 
letter, and the post-office employee who had last charge of it were 
arrested. So, also, was the hotel employee who went several times 
daily to the post-office for the mails. All three were discharged after 
an examination. 

Senor Canelejas communicated almost immediately with Minister 
de Lome, and for several weeks letters and cablegrams passed be- 
tween the two, but no trace of the letter could be obtained. Canele- 
jas shortly thereafter left Havana, going to Madrid. It is not ex- 
plained why the letter was kept by the Cubans for several weeks 
before it was given out for publication. An informant other than the 
person who gave the foregoing, but who is on the inside in Cuban 
official circles, declares that the delay was occasioned by a desire on 
the part of the Junta to be assured absolutely that the writing was 
that of the Spanish Minister, so that he might not have any chance 
to deny its authorship, and thus cause a reaction which undoubtedly 
would have been the result of the propagation of a fake. 

Dr. John Guiteras, the Cuban leader in Philadelphia, commenting 
on the securing of the letter, said that it was clever work, and that 
the letter itself told the American people, in a better way than could 



LA'iEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 623 

any number of Cuban speeches or pamphlets, the inmost feelings of 
Spanish officials toward this country, its people and Government. 

Commenting further on the letter, Dr. Guiteras said : " There are 
portions of the De Lome letter concerning which it cannot be said 
that the incident is closed. Nor can I understand how honest citizens 
in Spain can consider it closed whilst the present Ministry remains in 
office. That a Government should propose two important measures 
directed to an understanding with the United States, and that a rep- 
resentative of that Government should declare both these measures 
to be merely for effect, is a very serious matter. 

" The said representative was in charge of both these measures—, 
autonomy and a commercial treaty — as far as these measures con- 
cerned the United States, and he writes to a man prominent in poli- 
tics, and who apparently was charged with some secret mission to 
that Government. Will the American people mow believe what the 
Cubans have repeatedly said, namely, that autonomy is a farce? 

Disparaging our Public Men. 

" I would like to forget that part of De Lome's letter which refers 
in a disrespectful way to President McKinley. Although it is very 
offensive I do not believe it will have any influence upon the action 
of the Government. But there is a great lesson to be learned from 
this disagreeable incident. I do not hesitate to say that we are, our- 
selves to blame, for the boorish conduct of this foreign representative. 
We have a confirmed and pernicious habit of speaking in disparag- 
ing terms of our public men and our institutions. I have no doubt 
that Mr. de Lome has found in this country willing ears for such 
'statements as he makes in his letter, if he has not himself frequently 
heard similar expressions from American lips. 

" Freedom of speech is a great thing. The faults of our public 
men should be pointed out openly and without fear. Specific charges 
should be made, where there is a foundation for them. But there is 
a vast difference between this and the loose generalizations we hear 
so frequently. Men in office seem to be honored for a moment by 
the popular vote, only to be villified as public criminals. We lack 



624 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

patriotism. If we do not love and honor our institutions we cannot 
expect foreigners to respect them." 

Justice Brewer, of the United States Supreme Court, in speaking 
-^n the subject, said: 

" No one knew better than Senor De Lome that President McKin- 
ley, instead of attempting to cater to the popular prejudice in con- 
nection with the Cuban agitation, was distinctly the one bold restrain- 
ing figure which sought to check the growth of sentiment in this 
direction. He knew that it was President McKinley who opposed 
the jingo element in both branches of the National Legislature, and 
by whose firm, yet politic course, several dangerous crises in the 
relations between the two nations had been passed over with com- 
paratively little friction. Why he should have written the letter was 
and is a mystery, and not to be explained on any reasonable hypothesis. 

Hypocrisy Unmasked. 

u Of course, its effect will be to add to the strain which already 
exists in the relations of the two countries. Apart from the natural 
resentment which will be felt in this country because of De Lome's 
references to President McKinley, are the unpleasant revelations the 
letter contains as to the motive for urging the reciprocity treaty with 
this country. It smacks so strongly of duplicity it will add greatly 
to the charges which have been made all along against Spain." 

Meanwhile the terrible struggle in Cuba went on. The failure of 
Pando's campaign in the eastern part of Cuba was regarded as proof 
that in a military way Spain's condition was utterly hopeless. The 
.mortality from starvation according to the latest official reports did 
not decrease. In the city of Santa Clara, which has only 1 2,000 
inhabitants, the deaths numbered IOOO in January, as compared with 
78 in the same month the year before. 

There were ten thousand reconcentrados forced into Santa Clara 
city, and out of that number over 8000 died. That was the story from 
all parts of Cuba, and the starvation still went on. Before the war 
there were 200,000 resident Spaniards on the island, and according 
to the census just taken there were only about 137,000 left. 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 625 

The sequel of the letter by the Spanish Minister already referred 
to deserves to be noted. Spain was compelled to officially disclaim 
in a positive manner the reflections contained in the letter and offer 
a suitable apology. The following is an abstract of the note sent by 
the Spanish Government to Minister Woodford, at Madrid : 

" The Spanish Government on learning of the incident in which 
Minister Depuy De Lome was concerned, and being advised of his 
objectionable communication, with entire sincerity laments the inci- 
dent, states that Minister De Lome had presented his resignation, 
and it had been accepted before the presentation of the matter by 
Minister Woodford. That the Spanish Ministry, in accepting the 
resignation of a functionary whose services they have been utilizing 
and valuing up to that time, leaves it perfectly well established that 
they do not share, and rather, on the contrary, disauthorize the criti- 
cisms tending to offend or censure the Chief of a friendly State, 
although such criticisms had been written within the field of friend- 
ship and had reached publicity by artful and criminal means. 

" That this meaning had taken shape in a resolution by the 
Council of Ministers before General Woodford presented the matter, 
and at a time when the Spanish Government had only vague tele- 
graphic reports concerning the sentiments alluded to. That the 
Spanish nation, with equal and greater reason, affirms its view and 
decision after reading the words contained in the letter reflecting 
upon the President of the United States. 

New Commercial Treaty. 
" As to the paragraph concerning the desirability of negotiations 
of commercial relations, if even for effect and importance of using a 
representative for the purpose stated in Senor Dupuy De Lome's 
letter, the Government expresses concern that in the light of its 
conduct, long after the writing of the letter, and in view of the 
unanswerable testimony of simultaneous and subsequent facts, any 
doubt should exist that the Spanish Government has given proof oV 
its real desire and of its innermost convictions with respect to the 
new commercial system and the projected treaty of commerce. 
40 



626 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

" That the Spanish Government does now consider it necessary to 
lay stress upon, or to demonstrate anew the truth and sincerity of its 
purpose and the unstained good faith of its intentions. That publicly 
and solemnly, the Government of Spain contracted before the mother 
country and its colonies a responsibility for the political and tariff 
changes which it has inaugurated in both Antilles, the natural ends 
of which, in domestic and international spheres, it pursues with firm- 
ness, which will ever inspire its conduct." 

Closely following the resignation of the Spanish Minister came 
news of an appalling disaster in the harbor of Havana. The Ameri- 
can battleship " Maine" was lying in the harbor, having been sent on 
a friendly visit to Cuba. On the evening of February 15th a terrific 
explosion took place on board the ship, by which upwards of two 
hundred and forty sailors and officers lost their lives and the vessel 
was wrecked. 

Appalling Results of the Explosion. 

The cause of the explosion was not apparent. The wounded 
sailors of the " Maine " were unable to explain it. It was believed 
that the battleship was totally destroyed. The explosion shook the 
whole city. The windows were broken in many of the houses. The 
wounded sailors stated that the explosion took place while they were 
asleep, so that they could give no particulars as to the cause. 

The Government at Washington and the whole country were 
horrified at the destruction of one of our largest cruisers and the loss 
of so many of our brave sailors. The excitement throughout the 
country was intense. 

The chief interest in the " Maine " disaster now centered upon the 
cause of the explosion that so quickly sent her to the bottom of 
Havana harbor. With every day the reticence of the naval officials 
seemed to increase. Secretary Long declined to express any opinion 
on the terrible affair, and all others in authority were similarly silent. 

A naval board of inquiry was appointed to proceed at once to 
Havana to make a thorough investigation. The navy officers who 
would talk were skeptical as a rule of the accident theory. The story 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 627 

of a percussion hole in the " Maine's " side was not generally be- 
lieved, but the sentiment was strong that the affair needed a strong light 
to dispel the ugly shadows. Every suggestion of a possible reason for 
an explosion seemed to be met by certain facts that controverted it. 

A bill was introduced in the National House of Representatives to 
appropriate money for the heirs of the " Maine's" dead. The funeral 
of victims whose bodies were recovered was held at Havana. Mes- 
sages of condolence were received at Washington from the rulers of 
most of the great nations of the world. King, Emperor, Sultan, 
President, united in a tribute to the devoted dead. Many Legisla- 
tures adopted resolutions of sympathy and regret for the disaster. 

The message of Queen Victoria was as follows: 

" Secretary State : — 

" 1 have the honor to inform you that I am commanded by the Queen to con- 
vey to the President the expression of her Majesty's sympathy with the American 
people on the occasion of the sad disaster which has befallen their navy by ths 
loss of the battleship ' Maine' and of so many members of her crew. I request 
f.hat you will be good enough to transmit the above message to its high destination. 

" I have the honor to be, with the highest consideration, sir, your most obedient, 
humble servant, Julian Pauncefote." 

The Emperor William, of Germany , telegraphed as follows : 

" Berlin, February 17. 
"President United States, Washington : — 

" Let me express my sincere sympathy to yo'c <a.nd your country at the terrible 
loss of the ' Maine ' and the death of so many brave officers and men of your navy. 

"William, I. R." 

The following dispatch came from Paris : 

" Paris, February 17. 
" Sherman, Secretary, Washington : — 

" President Faure asked personal interview in which he requested me to express 
his warmest sympathy and profound sense of condolence to President McKinley 
regarding the appalling catastrophe to the ' Maine,' and to convey assurance thai 
the French people, especially the French navy, are deeply touched by the death 
of the gallant officers and men who lost their lives at their post of duty. 

" Porter." 

Similar expressions of sympathy and condolence came from othei 



628 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

rulers, all expressing horror at the catastrophe which resulted in the 
loss of so many lives. 

The reader will be interested in a description of the United States 
battleship " Maine." She was launched at the Brooklyn Navy Yard 
in November, 1890, and was first commissioned September 17, 1895. 
She was a steel armored battleship, with two ten- inch barbette tur- 
rets. Her dimensions were: Length, 318 feet; beam, 57 feet; draft, 
21 feet 6 inches; and displacement, 6,682 tons. She had eight steel 
horizontal boilers, vertical inverted cylinder direct-acting triple ex- 
pansion twin-screw engines of 9,000 indicated horse-power. She 
•carried 822 tons of coal, with which she could steam 2,770 knots at 
I4.8 knots an hour, or 7,000 knots at IO knots an hour. She hd^ 1 
double bottom and numerous water-tight compartments. 

A Formidable Naval Battery. 

Her armor consisted of a side armor belt, twelve inches thick. Four 
\en-inch rifles, en barbette in turrets, constituted her main battery, 
and six six-inch rifles on the battery deck for the auxiliary battery. 
Four six-pounders, eight three-pounders and two one-pounder rapid 
ire guns, four revolving cannon and four Gatlings made up the 
lecond battery. There were armored tops on each of the two masts. 

Asa fighting machine the " Maine " was as formidable as any of 
her class. The hull was encased in an armor belt twelve inches in 
thickness, tapering to seven inches below the water-line. Like most 
vessels of her class, her ends were unprotected by side armor, but at 
both ends there were transverse armored bulkheads of sufficient thick- 
ness to deflect projectiles. A steel deck covered the vital parts of 
*he ship and afforded protection to the machinery and boilers. 

The barbette armor was twelve inches in thickness and the plates 
of the turret armor were eight inches thick. The armor of the for- 
ward barbette cost $125,000, that for the after barbette $122,000. 
The cost per gross ton was $575, plus 2% cents per pound for har- 
veyizing the plates and y 2 cent per pound for introducing nickel. 

The " Maine " was propelled by twin screws of manganese bronze. 
A bulkhead divided the engine room, so that each set of the ma- 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 629 

chinery was in a water-tight compartment by itself. The fire rooms 
were fitted for forced draught. The vessel was fitted for a flag ship, 
which means that she had a separate cabin for an admiral and addi- 
tional state rooms for state officers. The cost of the " Maine " was 
#2,500,000. 

Only a comparatively small number of bodies were recovered from 
the wreck of the " Maine," and many of these were mutilated beyond 
recognition. The scene was ghastly and sickening. The interment 
of the dead took place at 5 o'clock on the afternoon of February 
17th. Shortly before that hour all Havana was moving. The flags 
on the public buildings were at half mast and many of the houses 
were draped in mourning. All classes were represented in the 
throngs that filled the streets along which the funeral procession 
passed to the cemetery. The order of the procession was as follows: 

Funeral of the Victims at Havana. 

The Municipal Guards on horseback, in full uniform, the city fire 
brigade, the municipal employees, the Aldermen in seven splendidly 
decorated firemen's cars, special cars bearing the bodies, the clergy 
deputations consisting of the chief officers of the army, navy, and 
the volunteers, representatives of various official bureaus and of the 
custom house, a committee representing the Chamber of Commerce, 
a delegation representing the grocers. 

Elaborate preparations had been made for the interment of the 
dead, the twenty-two bodies having been brought to the City Hall, 
where they rested in coffins covered with beautiful crowns of silk 
ribbons, with appropriate inscriptions. The crown from the City 
Council bore the inscription : " The people of Havana to the victims 
of the Maine." There was a handsome crown of silk ribbons in the 
Spanish national colors, with the inscription, " The Navy Department 
at Havana to the victims of the Maine." 

The Marquis de Esteban, Mayor of Havana, headed the cere- 
monies, the burial expenses being paid by the municipality. Genera'/ 
Solana assisted at the funeral, representing Captain General Blanco. 
Manuel Santander, the Bishop of Havana, had donated the ground 



630 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

for the burials. The population that lined the route of the funeral 
procession, gave every indication of the profoundest respect. 

The funeral cortege started from the principal entrance of the City 
Hall on Weyler Street, then turned to the right on Mercadores 
Street, then up O'Reilly Street along the right side of Central Park 
and finally to the right along San Rafael Street to the cemetery. 

Consul General Lee, General Parrado, the Marquis Larinaga, 
Admiral Monterola, the chief officers of the " Maine," the represent- 
atives of foreign Government.' and numerous other officials were 
present. Two Spanish battalions furnished the bands. 

The Investigation Begins. 

A Naval Board of Inquiry, composed of Captain Sampson, of the 
" Iowa ; " Captain Chadwick, of the " New York ; " Captain Marix, 
of the " Vermont," and Lieutenant-Commander Potter, of the '" New 
York," went to Havana, and proceeded promptly to investigate the 
causes of the explosion that destroyed the battleship. 

The further the inquiry into the causes that led to the " Mame " 
disaster proceeded, the more remote appeared the chances that any 
evidence would be discovered to show that the disaster was due to 
accident. Those divers who penetrated into the forward part of the 
wreck found that the whole forward end of the ship from a point just 
abaft the forward turret had been twisted fifteen or twenty degrees to 
starboard. That part of the vessel was a wilderness of debris and 
curled and twisted plates. 

The sharp, jagged edges of some of the plates added danger to 
the difficulties of the divers' getting life lines into a tangle and fray- 
ing the cords. In one instance they almost cut through a rubber 
tube which supplied a diver with air. One important discovery made 
was the position of the bodies found in the wreck, one hundred of 
which were floating about the torn compartments. A full score of 
these were examined. 

All of these bodies were in hammocks, and all had the arms curved 
upward. They looked as if the men had been startled by some 
sudden shock of danger and were in the act of reaching up for their 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 631 

hammock hooks to swing themselves on deck when de^h came. 
This seemed to confirm what had already been said about there hav- 
ing been two explosions — the first startling the men into the act of 
arising from their hammocks, the other dashing the life out of them 
while they were in that position. 

Before the explosion the ten-inch magazine was located on the 
starboard side forward and beneath the forward turret. What was 
left of the magazine seemed to have been driven toward the port bow, 
in a diagonal and upward direction. The six-inch magazine, which 
had its location in the port side of the ship forward, was hurled in a 
direction directly opposite to that of the ten-inch magazine. One of 
the copper cylindrical tanks for the six-inch magazine was found by 
the divers in the wreck of that structure. It contained no powde^ 
charge. 

Strange Tales of the Shocking Disaster. 

The ten-inch magazine was not closely examined, but such inspec- 
tion of it as was made led to the belief that a big pile of twisted 
wreckage that lay about the top of it was composed of unexploded 
ten-inch charges. 

It was believed that the six-inch magazine was exploded by the 
first shock that was felt and that there was another explosion in the 
ten-inch magazine. 

Many strange tales of the disaster were brought out as the days 
wore on. One of these was made known publicly, when the captain 
of an English bark anchored in the harbor, nearly a mile distant from 
the " Maine," told how a man's jaw had fallen on the deck of his 
vessel. The captain was asked to appear as a witness before the 
Court of Inquiry. 

Every one in Havana believed that a crisis would follow close upon 
the heels of the investigation. The Spanish authorities realized that 
Spain was perilously near a rupture with the United States, and the 
suppressed excitement was felt in the air. 

Captain Sigsbee and other officers of the " Maine " were called by 
the Board of Inquiry, and it was evident no effort would be spared 



632 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

to get the most complete information concerning the causes of the 
explosion. 

Photographs of the wreck having been taken, these were sub- 
mitted to Mr. Charles H. Cramp, the well known shipbuilder, of 
Philadelphia, who made the following comments : 

" Examination of the original photographs of the ship as she lies 
indicates much greater destruction than at first thought. From them 
it appears that the ship is completely wrecked as to her upper works 
for at least half her length forward, and much damaged for a consid- 
erable distance abaft the region of total wreck. 

" The mainmast, though left standing, shows considerable injury, 
doubtless by flying pieces of wreckage from forward. The prostra- 
tion of both smokestacks indicates very great damage, if not entire 
wreckage, in the boiler spaces. This could not happen without 
serious effect in the engine rooms, though the engines may not be 
totally disabled. 

Damaged Beyond Repair. 

" To sum up, the photographs indicate an area of effect that could 
not have been caused by a single explosion in the forepart of the 
ship. Such wrecking could be caused only by several stupendous 
forces acting in quick succession. 

" The photographs also indicate that the ship is too badly wrecked, 
and through too great a part of her length, for successful raising and 
restoration. The submerged portion is doubtless filled to a depth of 
several feet with the silt and ooze which covers the bottom of the 
Havana harbor, and this alone would seriously impede raising opera- 
tions, even if there was enough left of the ship forward to get hold 
of, which, from the surface conditions as shown by the photographs, 
does not appear probable. 

" From the meagre information before me I think the only practic- 
able mode of raising the ship will be that of building a coffer dam 
around the wreck, pumping out and then patching her up, so she will 
float. And even this may be found impracticable." 

As the investigation proceeded, a strong public opinion was aroused 
in support of the Government at Washington. 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 633 

REPORT OF THE NAVAL BOARD. 

For upwards of twenty days the country awaited in profound sus- 
pense the result of the inquiry of the Naval Board. During this 
tiitte all sorts of conflicting rumors were afloat, but it was well un- 
derstood that the government at Washington was pursuing a con- 
servative course, and would not plunge the country into war without 
the greatest provocation. 

At length the investigation by the Naval Board was completed 
and was transmitted to Congress, accompanied by a message from 
President McKinley, as follows : 

To the Congress of the United States : 

For some time prior to the visit of the "Maine" to Havana harbor 
our consular representatives pointed out the advantages to flow from 
the visit of national ships to the Cuban waters, in accustoming the 
people to the presence of our flag as the symbol of good will and of 
our ships in the fulfillment of the mission of protection to American 
interests, even though no immediate need therefor might exist. 

Accordingly on the 24th of January last, after conference with the 
Spanish Minister, in which the renewal of visits of our war vessels to 
Spanish waters was discussed and accepted, the peninsular authorities 
at Madrid and Havana were advised of the purpose of this government 
to resume friendly naval visits at Cuban ports, and that in that view 
the " Maine " would forthwith call at the port of Havana. This an- 
nouncement was received by the Spanish Government with apprecia- 
tion of the friendly character of the visit of the " Maine," and with 
notification of intention to return the courtesy by sending Spanish 
ships to the principal ports of the United States. Meanwhile the 
" Maine " entered the port of Havana on the 25th of January, her 
arrival being marked with no special incident besides the exchange of 
customary salutes and ceremonial visits. 

The " Maine" continued in the harbor of H ana during the three 
weeks following her arrival. No appreciable excitement attended 
her stay; on the contrary, a feeling of relief and confidence followed 
the resumption of the long interrupted friendly intercourse. So 



634 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

noticeable was this immediate effect of her visit that the Consul Gen- 
eral strongly urged that the presence of our ships in Cuban waters 
should be kept up by retaining the " Maine " at Havana, or, in the 
event of her recall, by sending another vessel there to take her place. 
At forty minutes past nine in the evening of the 15th of Feb- 
ruary the "Maine" was destroyed by an explosion, by which the 
entire forward part of the ship was utterly wrecked. In this catas- 
trophe two officers and two hundred and sixty-four of her crew 
perished, those who were not killed -outright by her explosion being 
penned between decks by the tangle of wreckage and drowned by the 
immediate sinking of the hull. 

Recovering the Bodies of the Dead. 

Prompt assistance was rendered by the neighboring vessels an- 
chored in the harbor, aid being especially given by the boats of the 
Spanish cruiser "Alphonse XII." and the Ward Line steamer "City of 
Washington," which lay not far distant. The wounded were gener- 
ously cared for by the authorities of Havana, the hospitals being 
freely opened to them, while the earliest recovered bodies of the dead 
were interred by the municipality in the public cemetery in the city. 
Tributes of grief and sympathy were offered from all official quarters 
of the island. 

The appalling calamity fell upon the people of our country with 
crushing force and for a brief time an intense excitement prevailed, 
which in a community less just and self-controlled than ours might 
have led to hasty acts of blind resentment. This spirit, however, 
soon gave way to the calmer processes of reason and to the resolve 
to investigate the facts and await material proof before forming a 
judgment as to the cause, the responsibility, and, if the facts war- 
ranted, the remedy. This course necessarily recommended itself from 
the outset to the Executive, for only in the light of a dispassionately 
ascertained certainty could it determine the nature and measure of its 
full duty in the matter. 

The usual procedure was followed, as in all cases of casualty or 
disaster to national vessels of any maritime state. A Naval Court ol 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA 635 

Inquiry was at once organized, composed of officers well qualified by- 
rank and practical experience to discharge the duty imposed upoo 
them. Aided by a strong force of wreckers and divers, the court 
proceeded to make a thorough investigation on the spot, employing 
every available means for the impartial and exact determination of 
the causes of the explosion. Its operations have been conducted with 
the utmost deliberation and judgment, and while independently 
pursued, no source of information was neglected and the fullest 
opportunity was allowed for a simultaneous investigation by the 
Spanish authorities. 

Sudden Destruction of the Ship. 

The finding of the Court of Inquiry was reached after twenty-three 
days of continuous labor, on the 2ist of March, and having been 
approved on the 22d by the commander-in-chief of the United States 
naval force of the North Atlantic station, was transmitted to the 
Executive. 

It is herewith laid before the Congress, together with the volumi- 
nous testimony taken before the court. Its purport is in brief as 
follows : 

When the " Maine " arrived at Havana she was conducted by the 
regular government pilot to buoy No. 5, to which she was moored in 
from five and one-half to six fathoms of water. The state of discipline 
on board and the condition of her magazines, boilers, coal bunkera 
and storage compartments are passed in review, with the conclusion 
that excellent order prevailed and that no indication of any cause for 
an internal explosion existed in any quarter. 

At eight o'clock in the evening of February 15th everything had 
been reported secure and all was quiet. At forty minutes past nine 
o'clock the vessel was suddenly destroyed. There were two distinct 
explosions with a brief interval between them. The first lifted the 
forward part of the ship very perceptibly ; the second, which was 
more open, prolonged and of greater volume, is attributed by the 
court to the partial explosion of two or more of the forward maga- 
zines. 



636 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

The evidence of the divers establishes that the after part of the 
ship was practically intact and sank in that condition a very few- 
minutes after the explosion. The forward part was completely 
demolished. Upon the evidence of a concurrent external cause the 
finding of the court is as follows : 

At frame seventeen the outer shell of the ship, from a point eleven 
and one-half feet from the middle line of the ship and six feet above 
the keel, when in its normal position, has been forced up so as to be 
now about four feet above the surface of the water ; therefore about 
thirty-four feet above where it would be had the ship sunk uninjured. 

The outside bottom plating is bent into a reversed V shape, the 
after wing of which, about fifteen feet broad and thirty-two feet in 
length (frame 17 to frame 25) is doubled back upon itself against the 
continuation of the same place extending forward. At frame 18 
the vertical keel is broken in two and the flat keel bent into an angle 
similar to the angle formed by the outside bottom plates. This break 
is now about six feet below the surface of the water and about thirty 
feet above its normal position. 

Caused by the Explosion of a Mine. 

In the opinion of the Court this effect could have been produced 
only by the explosion of a mine situated under the bottom of the ship, 
at about frame 18 and somewhat on the port side of the ship. 

The conclusion of the court are : That the loss of the " Maine " 
was not in any respect due to fault or negligence on the part of any 
of the officers or members of her crew : 

That the ship was destroyed by the explosion of a submarine mine, 
which caused the partial explosion of two or more of her forward 
magazines; and 

That no evidence has been obtainable fixing the responsibility for 
the destruction of the " Maine " upon any person or persons. 

I have directed that the finding of the Court of Inquiry and the 
views of this government thereon be communicated to the govern- 
ment of her Majesty, the Queen Regent, and I do not permit myself 
to doubt that the sense of justice of the Spanish nation will dictate a 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 637 

course of action suggested by honor and the friendly relations of the 
two governments. 

It will be the duty of the Executive to advise the Congress of the 
result, and in the meantime deliberate consideration is invoked. 

Signed William McKinley. 

Executive Mansion, March 28, 1898. 

Finding of the Court. 

The following is the full text of the report of the Court of Inquiry 
appointed to investigate the disaster to the "Maine " at Havana: 

U. S. S. " Iowa," first rate, Key West, Fla., Monday, March 21, 1898. 
— After full and mature consideration of all the testimony before it, 
the Court finds as follows: 

1. That the United States battleship " Maine " arrived in the harbor 
of Havana, Cuba, on the twenty-fifth day of January, Eighteen Hun- 
dred and Ninety-eight, and was taken to Buoy No. 4, in from five and 
a half to six fathoms of water, by the regular government pilot. 
The United States Consul-General at Havana had notified the author- 
ities at that place the previous evening of the intended arrival of the 
" Maine." 

2. The state of discipline on board the " Maine " was excellent, and 
all orders and regulations in regard to the care and safety of the ship 
were strictly carried out. All ammunition was stowed in accordance 
with prescribed instructions, and proper care was taken whenever 
ammunition was handled. Nothing was stowed in any one of the 
magazines or shell rooms which was not permitted to be stowed 
there. 

The magazine and shell rooms were always locked after having 
been opened, and after the destruction of the " Maine" the keys were 
found in their proper place in the captain's cabin, everything having 
been reported secure that evening at 8. p. m. The temperatures of 
the magazine and shell room were taken daily and reported. The 
only magazine which had an undue amount of heat was the after 10- 
inch magazine, and that did not explode at the time the " Maine" 
was destroyed. 



638 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

The torpedo warheads were all stowed in the after part of the ship 
under the ward room, and neither caused nor participated in the 
destruction of the " Maine." The dry gun cotton primers and deto- 
nators were stowed in the cabin aft, and remote from the scene of 
the explosion. 

Waste was carefully looked after on board the " Maine" to obviate 
danger. Special orders in regard to this had been given by the 
commanding officer. Varnishes, dryers, alcohol and other combust- 
ibles of this nature were stowed on or above the main deck and 
could not have had anything to do with the destruction of the 
" Maine." The medical stores were stored aft under the ward room 
and remote from the scene of the explosion. No dangerous stores 
of any kind were stowed below in any of the other store rooms. 

Careful Inspection of the Bunkers. 

The coal bunkers were inspected daily. Of those bunkers adja- 
cent to the forward magazines and shell rooms four were empty, 
namely, " B3, B4, B5 and B6." " A5 " had been in use that day and 
" A 16 " was full of new river coal. This coal had been carefully in- 
spected before receiving it on board. The bunker in which it was 
stowed was accessible on three sides at all times, and the fourth side 
at this time, on account of bunkers " B4 " and " B6 " being empty 
This bunker, " A16," had been inspected Mondav b;' the engineer 
officer on duty. 

The fire alarms in the bunkers were in working order, and there 
had never been a case of spontaneous combustion of coal on board 
the " Maine." The two after boilers of the ship were in use at the 
time of the disaster, but for auxiliary purposes only, with a compara- 
tively low pressure of steam and being tended by a reliable watch. 
These boilers could not have caused the explosion of the ship. The 
four forward boilers have since been found by the divers and are in a 
fair condition. 

On the night of the destruction of the Maine everything had been 
reported secure for the night at 8 p. m. by reliable persons, 
through the proper authorities, to the commanding officer. At the 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 639 

time the " Maine " was destroyed the ship was quiet, and, therefore, 
least liable to accident caused by movements from those on board. 

3. The destruction of the " Maine " occurred at 9.40 p. m. on the 
15th day of February, 1898, in the harbor of Havana, Cuba, she being 
at the time moored to the same buoy to which she had been taken 
upon her arrival. 

There were two explosions of a distinctly different character, with 
a very short but distinct interval between them, and the forward part 
of the ship was lifted to a marked degree at the time of the first ex- 
plosion. 

The first explosion was more in the nature of a report, like that of 
a gun, while the second explosion was more open, prolonged and of 
greater volume. This second explosion was, in the opinion of the 
court, caused by the partial explosion of two or more of the forward 
magazines of the " Maine." 

Wreck of the Forward Part. 

The evidence bearing upon this, being principally obtained from 
divers, did not enable the court to form a definite conclusion as to the 
condition of the wreck, although it was established that the after part 
of the ship was practically intact and sank in that condition a very 
few minutes after the destruction of the forward part. 

4. The following facts in regard to the forward part of the ship are, 
however, established by the testimony : That portion of the port side 
of the protective deck which extends from about frame 30 to about 
frame 41 was blown up aft, and over to port, the main deck from 
about frame 30 to about frame 41 was blown up aft, and slightly over 
to starboard, folding the forward part of the middle superstructure 
over and on top of the after part. 

This was, in the opinion of the court, caused by the partial explo- 
sion of two or more of the forward magazines of the " Maine." 

5. At frame 17 the outer shell of the ship, from a point eleven and 
one-half feet from the middle line of the ship and six feet above the 
keel when in its normal position, has been forced up so as to be now 
about four feet above the surface of the water, therefore, about thirty- 



640 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

four feet above where it would be had the ship sunk uninjured. The 
outside bottom plating is bent into a reversed V shape, the alter wing 
of which, about fifteen feet broad and thirty-two feet in length (from 
frame \J to frame 25) is doubled back upon itself against the con- 
tinuation of the same plating extending forward. 

Not Due to Negligence on Board. 

At frame 18 the vertical keel is broken in two and the flat keel 
bent into an angle similar to the angle formed by the outside bottom 
plating. This break is now about six feet below the surface of the 
water and about thirty feet above its normal position. 

In the opinion of the court this effect could have been produced 
only by the explosion of a mine situated under the bottom of the 
ship at about frame 18, and somewhat on the port side of the ship. 

6. The court finds that the loss of the " Maine " on the occasion 
named was not in any respect due to fault or negligence on the part 
of the officers or men of the crew of said vessel. 

7. In the opinion of the court the "Maine" was destroyed by the 
explosion of a submarine mine, which caused the partial explosion 
of two of her forward magazines. 

8. The court has been unable to obtain evidence fixing the respon- 
sibility for ihe destruction of the " Maine " upon any person or persons. 

W. T. Sampson, 
Captain U. S. N., President. 
A. Marix, 
Lieutenant Commander U. S. N., Judge Advocate. 



America's Giant Sea-Fighters, 

THE first-class battle ship Iowa is the most powerful open sea 
fighter in the navy, because of a combination of great coal ca- 
pacity, which gives her the range of a cruiser, her heavy armor 
and her destructive armament. She stands alone in our navy as a 
type of a battle-ship. The Minneapolis is the swiftest ship in the 
navy. On her official trial she made an average of 23.07 knots an 
hour for eighty-eight miles. 

The Columbia, whose time in her trial over a similar course was 
22.81 knots, has distinguished herself by fast trips across the Atlantic 
from the other side, in which she failed, however, to equal the speed 
of the best merchant steamships. These vessels, like the Iowa, have 
a coal capacity of 2000 tons, but their horse-power is, of course, very 
much greater. 

The two cruisers, while having no belt armor, have deck and gun 
position protection, double bottoms and a wall of patent fuel five feet 
thick on each side of the boilers. Their nominal cruising radius is 
26,240 miles. With three screws, the middle only would be used for 
long distance excursions, the other two being uncoupled. 

The Flower of our Navy. 

In the cruiser class the Brooklyn and New York are the flower of 
the navy. Besides heavily armored steel decks and light side plating 
they have a cellulose belt. In displacement the Brooklyn has a supe- 
riority of a little more than a thousand tons. She is also fourteen 
feet longer. At the Kiel naval review the Brooklyn was a prime 
favorite with the naval experts. She is not, however, as handsome a 
ship as the New York. 

The Brooklyn's tall, slim smoke stacks are not pretty, but they af- 
ford an extra forced draft, and her high forecastle deck gives her a top- 
heavy appearance, but this device enables her to carry her eight-inch 
41D 641 



<U2 AMERICA'S GIANT SEA-FIGHTERS. 

guns ten feet higher than the New York, so that she would be a more 
formidable antagonist when steaming against a head sea. The 
Brooklyn's armament is superior to the New York's. 

The Texas and the ill-fated Maine were also supposed to be sister 
ships, but there was this difference between them : the Maine's big 
guns were coupled in turrets enclosed in oval barbettes, while those 
of the Texas were mounted singly in turrets sheltered within an 
oblique redoubt, as in the Italia of the Italian navy. 

The Oregon, Massachusetts and Indiana are ships as like one 
another as the constructors could make them. Three protected 
cruisers almost identical are the Newark, Philadelphia and San Fran- 
cisco. The design is essentially American. They have double bot- 
toms for one hundred and twenty-seven feet, covering the space 
occupied by the engines and boilers, and, like all our modern ships, 
have watertight compartments. The material of construction is what 
is known as mild steel. Engines, boilers, magazines, shell room, 
torpedo spaces and steering gear are protected by a steel deck, engines 
and boilers being further removed from danger by the coal bunkers, 
a device which is common in modern warships. 

Ventilation is provided by the exhaust system, and each ship has 
a fine electric plant and powerful search-lights. The cruiser Olympia 
is a lesser New York, except that she has no side armor. She has, 
however, a protective deck, which joining the hull beneath the water 
line at an angle of thirty degrees, and with a thickness of four and 
three-fourths inches on the slopes amidships, and three inches on the 
forward and aft slopes and two at the center is a very good substitute 
for side armor. All her six boilers can be worked under forced 
draught on the air-tight fire system. 
i 

Cruisers of a Smaller Type. 

The Raleigh and Cincinnati are called sister ships, but the latter 
has a displacement greater by about eight hundred tons. A coffer- 
dam filled with cellulose extends around them at the water line. 
Their rig is that of a two- masted schooner. The Raleigh was the first 
ship- of the new navy to be built complete by the Government. The 



AMERICA'S GIANT SEA-FIGHTERS. 643 

unprotected cruisers Detroit, Montgomery and Marblehead are also 
built on the same plan, which includes a minute subdivision of the 
compartments in the region of the load line, for protection against 
injury. 

In the vicinity of the machinery spaces are cofferdams to prevent 
water finding its way to the large compartments in the center of the 
vessel when she has been struck by a projectile. A thin deck plating 
covers the machinery, dynamos and magazines. At the outboard 
ends it is three feet below the water line, so that if the side of the 
vessel is pierced near the load line, or even below it, the compartments 
containing the boilers, engines and magazines will probably not be 
flooded. With a light draught, and costing comparatively little to 
keep in commission, these unprotected cruisers are among the most 
useful vessels of the navy. 

Description of the Baltimore. 

The Baltimore was the first protected cruiser built by the Cramps. 
She is best known to the public as the ship that carried Ericsson's 
body to Sweden in 1890. The berth room for the crew is large, and 
she is one of the most comfortable ships in the new navy for both 
officers and men, her appliances and conveniences being of the most 
approved kind. Her four 8-inch breech loading rifled guns are 
mounted in barbettes, two on the forecastle and two on the poop. 

The Boston and Atlanta, the earlier single-deck Roach cruisers, 
were designed on a plan which was a modification of the Esmeralda 
type. Their 8-inch guns, in barbettes on the main decks, are placed 
en echelon forward and abaft the superstructure; the 6- inch guns 
and rapid-fire and heavier machine guns are mounted within the 
central superstructure. 

The Roach cruiser, the Chicago, has a double deck, and, like the 
others, is partially protected. Her four 8-inch guns are mounted in 
sponsons on the spar deck, 24 feet above the water line ; the 8-inch 
and 5-inch guns are placed on the gun deck. The Charleston is also 
of the Esmeralda type, but an improvement on it. A protective deck 
extends her whole length. The 8-inch guns are on the middle line 



644 AMERICA'S GIANT SEA-FIGHTERS. 

of the ship. The Yorktown, Concord and Bennington, although 
called gun-boats, are poop-and-forecastle, partially protected cruisers. 
Two 6-inch guns are mounted on the forecastle, two on the poop, 
and two amidships. 

The ram Katahdin is a most formidable vessel on paper. She was 
designed by Admiral Ammen, and with the object of ramming an 
enemy's ship, can be submerged until only her turtle, back funnel 
and ventilating shafts remain above water. The ram is of cast steel, 
10 feet long and supported by longitudinal braces so that the force 
of the blow may be distributed through the vessel. It is estimated 
that the force of the impact when she rammed a vessel would be 
equivalent to the blow of a hammer weighing over 2000 tons moving 
at the rate of seventeen knots. Any vessel afloat must succumb to 
such force. 

Guns of Vast Destructive Power. 

Let us consider the features which make our battle-ships great 
fighting machines. Heavily armored and carrying guns of superior 
shattering and penetrating power, they are intended to bear the brunt 
of a naval battle, each a floating fort. The swift armored cruiser, 
like the Brooklyn or New York, may show her stern in retreat from 
an enemy, but the slower moving battle-ship is expected to fight it 
out wherever she may happen to be, no matter what the odds against 
her. 

A comparison between the different types of battle-ship which we 
have will be instructive. Why would the Indiana be regarded as a 
formidable foe ? In the first place her belt armor of Harveyized steel 
is unusually thick — 18 inches. There is hardly any doubt that she 
could keep afloat during the severest engagement. 

The dynamite cruiser Vesuvius might destroy her — that is, if the 
Indiana were taken by surprise on a moonlight night or at dawn. 
She might meet with the same fate from the explosion of a sub- 
marine mine. But in a battle of big guns and a test of armor plating 
the Indiana could hold her own against almost any warship afloat. 
Her armament is tremendous, consisting of four 13-inch guns of 



AMERICA'S GIANT SEA-FIGHTERS. 645 

about 67 tons, in turrets, and eight 8-inch, also in turrets, flanking 
the heavier guns. 

So well has the machinery for working the 67-tonners been con- 
trived that one man can lower them and swing them through an arc 
of 270 degrees by turning hand wheels and moving levers in the 
sighting station of the turret. The turrets are turned by hydraulic 
engines placed within the shelter of the barbettes below it. Raised 
twenty-six feet above the water, the 8-inch guns look out from four 
turrets flanking those which hold the big guns. This greater height 
renders the 8-inch most effective in a heavy sea. Shells fired from 
them would probably not be deflected by striking the crests of waves. 
The Indiana's four 6-inch guns are mounted on the main deck. At 
close quarters her broadside of twenty 6-pounder rapid-fire guns 
would work terrible havoc. 

Twenty Shells Fired in a Minute. 

To handle these little spitfires the gunners stand on grated shelves 
which hang down vertically when not in use. Twenty 2^ shells, 
capable of penetrating three inches of iron at a distance of 1,000 
yards, can be fired from them every minute. A torpedo boat, if ob- 
served in time, could never get near enough, raked by the fire of 
these guns, to discharge her torpedoes. Six baby i-pounders com- 
plete the armament of the Indiana, Massachusetts and Oregon. 

The hull construction of the Indiana demands brief notice. She 
really has two hulls, an inner and outer, which are separated by 
three and a half feet, each being water-tight. The space between 
them is divided laterally by the plate frames, riveted to both shells. 
In turn the lateral spaces are subdivided by other plate frames 
or girders, riveted to the cross girders and running the length of the 
ship. Each compartment thus arranged is made water-tight. A tor- 
pedo placed against the side o f the vessel would probably fail to 
break the inner shell, but if a hole should be made in it the inflow 
could be localized by the athwartship and longitudinal water-tight 
bulkheads. 

It would therefore be difficult to sink the Indiana. She would 



646 AMERICA'S GIANT SEA-FIGHTERS. 

probably go through a battle without having her big turrets disabled. 
These are formed of a solid circular wall of steel 17 inches thick, 
which revolves upon a circular track. From the top of the turret 
down to 4j4 feet below the water line, there is a wall of steel 17 and 
18 inches thick, protecting the gun crew, the turning machinery and 
the powder and shell. Many shots might strike this turret, but so 
heavy is the armor that it would be remarkable if a shot should 
penetrate and disable it. 

Commander Protected by Steel. 

There is no safer ship in the world to fight on than the Indiana. 
The conning tower, where the commander stands, and from which he 
directs the fighting, forms the base of the military mast, and is coated 
with steel 12 inches thick. Through horizontal slits, sufficiently 
high above the sighting hood of the forward turret to afford a survey 
of the area of battle, the commander gazes, alert and resourceful. By 
means of speaking tubes and electric apparatus he is master of his 
ship, the engines, the guns' stations and the steering room, at every 
stage of the conflict. 

The Indiana has an equipment of seven torpedo tubes, operated 
bow and stern, and from the sides on the berth deck. A Whitehead 
torpedo, such as the Indiana would use when close enough to an 
enemy, weighs 835 pounds, and is divided into three compartments — 
one containing a charge of guncotton, which is fired by contact; one 
charged with air at 1300 pounds to the square inch pressure, and the 
third holding compressed air engines to work the screw propellers. 

The torpedo is ejected from the fixed launching tube by compressed 
air or small powder charge, the shock starting the engines in the tor- 
pedo. Driven at a rate of thirty knots an hour for 400 yards, or 
twenty-seven for 800, it explodes on striking the side of the vessel 
aimed at. Besides fixed torpedo tubes, bow and stern, the Indiana 
has movable tubes fitted to the side of the ship with a ball and socket 
joint, so that they can be trained like broadside guns. 

Two search lights of 100,000 candle power upon the roof of the 
pilot house, one each side of the military mast, and a range finder, 



AMERICA'S GIANT SEA-FIGHTERS. 647 

also two similar search lights and a range finder on the overdeck, 
complete the defensive and offensive equipment of the Indiana and 
her sister ships. This general description will approximate to a de- 
scription of all our great fighting ships, which differ only in thickness 
and distribution of armor and deck plating, arrangement of the 
turrets and calibre of guns. 

Handled to Complete Satisfaction. 

With regard to the Indiana type it should be noted that European 
designers did not approve of the elevation of the four 8-inch turrets 
26 feet above the water, which was a new departure. They argued 
that the arrangement would make the ship topheavy. But trials 
prove them to have been in the wrong, although it is yet to be shown 
that this type can be handled to complete satisfaction in a sea fight in 
heavy weather. 

In the gunnery tests it was found that the arc of training of the 8- 
inch and 6-inch guns would have to be reduced, because of interfer- 
ence. It was expected that the 8-inch guns could be fired full ahead 
or full astern, and through a large arc of training on the beam, which 
necessitated firing across the top of the 13-inch turrets. But when 
the 8-inch guns were laid any nearer to the 13 inch turrets than 80 
degrees forward of the beam, the force of the blast rendered the 
sighting hoods of the big turrets untenable. Stops had to be placed 
on the 8-inch turrets, to limit the training of them any nearer the axis 
of the ship than 10 degrees. 

So when the plans for the Kearsarge-Kentucky type were drawn an 
attempt was made to meet the objection of interference by a system 
of double-deck turrets, the 13-inch guns being placed on the lower 
deck and the 8-inch on a projecting upper deck. In each double- 
deck turret, one at the stern and one at the bow. The Kearsarge 
type carries two 13-inch guns and two 8-inch. 

For harbor defence and still water work the navy has no more 
useful vessels than the double turreted monitors Miantonomoh, 
Amphitrite, Monadnock, Terror, Puritan and Monterey. The 
model of these floating forts, low in the water and most difficult to 



648 AMERICA'S GIANT SEA-FIGHTERS. 

hit, was Erricsson's Monitor of war times. The Monterey, built at 
San Francisco, is of a more modern type than the others, whose keels 
were laid as long ago as 1874. Their construction dragged along for 
years, as there seemed to be no use for them. At one time, with their 
engines on board, but without armor or guns, they were laid up. 

But on March 3, 1885, when interest in the navy had been revived 
by the addition of the Roach cruisers, Congress appropriated $3,178,- 
046 for the completion of these monitors. Four of them, the Amphi- 
trite, Monadnock, Terror and Miantonomoh, are of the same displace- 
ment, 3990 tons, and have the same big guns, 4 10-inch. The Puri- 
tan has almost double their displacement, 6000 tons, and carries four 
12-inch guns. 

The hulls are of iron, with an inner and outer shell and water-tight 
compartments; double bottoms round up into the sides of the ship, 
and extend to about three feet of the water line, where the side armor 
begins. The steel belt has a height of seven feet. In the Puritan it 
is twelve inches thick amidships, in the Miantonomoh and Amphi- 
trite nine, and in the Terror seven, tapering to the ends. 

Admirable Construction. 

The main deck, flush throughout the ship, is broken by the super- 
structure, barbettes and turrets. Its plating is slightly thicker on the 
Puritan than on the others. The turrets, of H^-inch Harveyized 
steel, revolve within and near the top edge of the barbettes, which 
project nearly five feet above the main deck. Two 4-inch guns, two 
6-pounders, two 3-pounders and two i-pounders, all rapid fire, are 
carried on the superstructure. The crew of the 4- inch guns is pro- 
tected by a two-inch shield, which rotates with the gun. In place of 
4-inch guns the Terror and Monadnock carry two rapid-fire 6-pounders. 

While the monitors were designed for harbor defense, they could 
be taken out to sea in ordinary weather for a deep water battle, and 
with their low free-boards they would have an excellent chance of 
going through it unscathed. The Miantonomoh was selected to fire 
the salute at the unveiling of the Ericsson statue, and was conspicuous 
in the naval parade of the Columbian celebration in New York city. 



AMERICA'S GIANT SEA-FIGHTERS. 64!) 

The double-turret monitor Monterey is built of steel, and she has 
a curved deck and a double bottom throughout, with no water-tight 
compartments in her hull. An armor belt of thirteen inches makes 
her, as a harbor defense vessel, almost invulnerable to projectiles 
which would necessarily be discharged at long range. A single mili- 
tary mast is equipped with machine guns and a search-light. Named 
after the coast-town which was formerly the capital of Upper Califor- 
nia, the mission of the Monterey is to defend the port of San Fran- 
cisco. 

While the Indiana is armed with eight 8-inch guns, disposed in 
four turrets at the four corners of the central armored battery, the 
four 8-inch guns of the Kearsarge and Kentucky can not only concen- 
trate an equal number of 8-inch guns on each broadside, but can 
swing each pair through an unbroken arc of 270 degrees ahead or 
astern. The blast of the upper guns does not cause incapacitating 
inconvenience to the crew in the 13-inch turret below. This turret 
design, it will be seen, saves the weight of two turrets and four guns 
and their ammunition. 

The Double-Turret System. 

At the same time it is in conflict with the axiom that gun stations 
should be separated as widely as possible to prevent serious crippling 
by a lucky shot. There is still another objection in the double turret 
system, namely, that the two sets of guns must be trained together. 
This would be a handicap when it was desirable to use the heavy guns 
and the 8-inch in different directions on the enemy, which must some- 
times happen. 

The Iowa was originally known as "Sea-going Battle-Ship No. 1." 
She is regarded as a combination of the cruising qualities of the New 
York and the fighting ability of the typical battle-ship. For 196 feet 
of her length a belt of armor 7 feet 6 inches wide and 14 inches thick 
protects her. Belts 12 inches thick connect transversely the ends of 
the side belts. Thus an armored citadel is formed, and at the ends 
circular barbettes 16 inches thick are placed, with rotating 14-inch 
turrets, each of which contains two 12-inch guns with axes parallel. 



050 AMERICA'S GIANT SEA-FIGHTERS. 

In addition to the water line belt there is a second belt of 4-inch 
armor running from one big turret to the other and forming a second 
citadel, at the four corners of which are barbettes of 8-inch armor 
with revolving turrets of 5)^-inch armor. Each turret holds two 8- 
inch guns. The 12-inch guns in the forward turret and all the 8-inch 
guns are on the same level, their axes 25 feet above the mean water 
line. The axes of the 12-inch guns in the after turret are 7 feet lower. 
The fighting mast has three tops. A deflective steel deck affords 
additional protection to the Iowa. Cellulose is packed back of her 
plating. 

Thus it will be seen that all the latest improvements and most for- 
midable armament have been used in the construction of our great sea- 
fighters. They are immense floating batteries, armed for deadly bat- 
tle, and represent ail that has been learned from naval warfare up to 
the present time. It would be difficult to imagine what more could 
be added to these monsters of the deer; to make them more effective 
and terrible in conflict. 



United States Naval Commanders. 

EAR ADMIRAL William T. Sampson, commander of the 
United States squadron in the North Atlantic, owes his dis- 
tinguished position not to epauletted ancestry, but rather to an 
ability to rightly act under the dictates of a clear judgment and the 
quality of performing rather than talking, inherited from a calm, 
sturdy father. 

" The right man in the right place," " He knows what to do and 
does it," were some of the expressions of approval from officers of 
high rank heard on the announcement of his last appointment. 
Courage and reserve are Admiral Sampson's leading characteristics. 

He is an ordnance expert of the first order, having made executive 
work and the study of naval science the absorbing objects of his 
career. His knowledge of modern armor and armament has been 
laboriously acquired, is extensive, thorough, and of great service to 
his country, equally with his profound comprehension of the use U nd 
comparative value of explosives, which knowledge represents years 
of hard study and dangerous experiment. 

A Master of Naval Science. 

The estimate placed on his opinion can best be judged from the fact 
of his repeated recalls when cruising to serve on various boards deal- 
ing with matters of importance. He was delegated, with others, to 
determine the policy for building up the navy; much sought in con- 
ferences where ship designing was considered ; and latterly was 
selected president of the board of inquiry of the Maine disaster. His 
keen intellectuality and prompt judgment in action inspire confidence 
in him, and war with Spain having been declared he was given com- 
nvind as Rear Admiral. 

A casual glance at this man, whose brilliant personality is mag- 
nified to vast importance by his great responsibilities, suggests the 

G51 



652 UNITED STATES NAVAL COMMANDERS. 

student of calm philosophies rather than the sailor and naval com- 
mander. 

Admiral Sampson is tall and slim, with shoulders a trifle rounded. 
His hair and beard are gray, his blue eyes set deep between strongly- 
marked brows, and are gravely expressive of much thought. He is 
affable, but a man of few words. Nothing disturbs the evenness of 
his manner, and in an emergency he reaches quickly a helpful con- 
clusion. His brevity of speech has given some who have met him an 
impression of curtness, which better acquaintance soon dispelled. 

Familiarly Known as "Billy" Sampson. 

In his native home, in Wayne county, N. Y., Admiral Sampson is 
still known by his familiars as "Billy" Sampson, and there, when 
leave permits, he spends jolly days with old companions, forgetful of 
all formality as before he had achieved honors. Not all the memo- 
ries of home are cheery, however, for Admiral Sampson's early life 
was a struggle. 

He was born in Palmyra, N. Y., February 9, 1840, and in earhs 
life had experience of poverty and hard work. His father was a 
laborer, and his education was kept up by conning such text-books 
as were in his possession at times when not assisting in cutting and 
piling wood, or performing some similar labor. His attendance at 
the county schools was intermittent, but his ambition to learn was in 
no way thwarted by circumstances. 

Through Representative E. B. Morgan young Sampson was in 1857 
appointed a midshipman in the United States Naval Academy, Mr. 
W. H. Southwick, of Palmyra, having secured Mr. Morgan's influence 
for the energetic boy, whose perseverance had won his admiration. 
After four years at Annapolis he graduated first in his class. 

His war record shows marvellous pluck and some astonishing ex- 
periences, though at the beginning of hostilities he was not old enough 
to attain a command. His conduct, however, as master on the frigate 
Potomac won him promotion to the rank of second lieutenant in the 
summer of 1862. While holding this commission he served on the 
practice ship John Adams, on the Patapsco, of the North Atlantic 



UNITED STATES NAVAL COMMANDERS. 653 

blockading squadron, and on the steam frigate Colorado, flagship of 
the European squadron. 

On January 16, 1865, Lieutenant Sampson, being executive officer 
on the ironclad Patapsco, was ordered by the Admiral of the fleet to 
enter Charleston Harbor, before which the Union ships were doing 
blockade duty, and remove or destroy all submarine mines and torpe- 
does with which the city was protected from invasion. The task was 
a most dangerous one, as for many days the enemy had given all their 
time and labor to stocking the water with explosives in order to repel 
advance. 

The little ironclad had only entered the harbor when bullets from 
the rifles of the sharpshooters rained upon her. Lieutenant Sampson, 
standing on the bridge, in the most exposed position, saw his men 
fall before the fire, with which they were well in range. The situa- 
tion was a test of bravery from which the young officer did not flinch, 
as he stood a target for many hundred marksmen. Ordering his men 
below, he kept his place. 

Blown a Hundred Feet From the Wreck. 

Presently there was an ominous cessation of firing and silence for 
a few moments, during which time the Patapsco moved deliberately 
forward in her quest. Then came a mighty explosion as the boat 
was lifted into the air by a terrific force from beneath. Surrounded 
by hurling masses of water and sheets of flame, other explosions 
quickly followed, after which the shattered ironclad settled down 
beneath the waves. 

The young officer was rescued about a hundred feet from the 
sunken wreck, where he had been blown. Twenty-five of his crew 
were being saved at the same time, but seventy men met their death 
in the sunken ironclad. 

Lieutenant Sampson was promoted to lieutenant commander in 
1866 while on the Colorado. He was at the Naval Academy from 
1868 to 1 87 1, and on the Congress in 1872-73. Having been made 
commander in 1874, he was assigned to the Alert, and from early in 
1876 to the end of 1878 he was again at the Naval Academy. In 



654 UNITED STATES NAVAL COMMANDERS. 

1879 he was in China, commanding the Swatara. The Iowa was first 
commanded by him, and the San Francisco was once his charge. 

His lectures on torpedo work before the Naval War College, at 
Newport, produced a fine impression, and his device of double deck 
or superposed turrets which, with Lieutenant Joseph Strauss, he per- 
fected and which await trial on the new battleships Kearsarge and 
Kentucky, are proofs of his talent. 

While occupying the position of inspector of ordnance at the 
Washington Navy Yard for three years he assisted in furthering con- 
struction of the magnificent gun factory established there. He was 
Chief of the Bureau of Ordnance from 1893 to 1897, testing all his 
powers of endurance and nearly wrecking his health by the arduous 
duties of the position. 

Fondness for His Old Home. 

Mormon Hill Farm, New York, is the property of the Sampsons, 
and when the Admiral seeks recreation amid the scenes of his boy- 
hood he is guest of his brother, who lives on the place. The famous 
golden plates of the Book of Mormon, which Joseph Smith claimed 
to have found buried, were said by him to have been excavated from 
the land of this estate. While Admiral Sampson is in the midst of 
warlike preparations, surrounded by instruments and munitions of 
slaughter, his family, in the home, is environed by the most peaceful 
and quiet scenes that can well be imagined. 

There is indeed a deep contrast between the naval activity where 
the Admiral is a commanding central figure and the rural peace where 
wife and children abide in security, though ever anxious over the 
events that may by a sudden turn place husband and father in the 
front of a great conflict between nations. When events transpired 
that threatened to keep the Admiral from his family for some time, 
he closed his Washington house and found a temporary home for his 
wife and children in the quiet, picturesque town of Glen Ridge, in 
New Jersey. There they are as snugly harbored as a sailor might 
wish his dear ones to be while he is battling fierce storms or perhaps 
still more fierce men. 



UNITED STATES NAVAL COMMANDERS. 655 

Sampson is in his habits almost a recluse. He is a man of one 
idea, and that idea is the navy of the United States. His whole life 
is his profession. A naval commander often has social duties, and 
these he performs with tact and resource, but he never seeks display 
or social affairs not in the line of duty. He is very close-mouthed 
and can evade questions like a diplomat, effectually, yet politely. He 
proved this as head of the Maine Board of Inquiry. He is a rigid 
disciplinarian. 

A keen, shrewd man is Sampson, a man who knows every branch 
of naval theory and practice as few know it. lie is never impulsive, 
never huiried, never at a loss. It would be impossible to name a 
man in whom the navy and the country would have more confidence. 
That confidence is not lessened by the fact that he is a plain man of 
the plain people, coming, as Lincoln came, from intimate acquaint 
anceship with the soil he defends and is in all respects a self-made 
man who can be trusted in any emergency. 

Sketch of Commodore Schley. 

One or two other high officers in the navy command our attention. 
Commodore Winfield Scott Schley is the commander of the flying 
squadron. He is a jolly man, fond of a joke and warm-hearted. He 
loves children, and little people are attracted by him. He is demo- 
cratic in his ways when on shore. He puts a stranger at once at 
ease. He is easily approached, and frank in conversation on all 
matters not connected with naval affairs. 

Like most men in high executive place in the army and navy he is 
a handsome man. He is tall, was slender during most of his active 
life, but has acquired a comfortable girth. In his quick, alert manner 
and active mind, Schley seems more French than English, but he is 
remotely of Alsatian descent. 

Schley married in 1863 Miss Rebecca Franklin. He was then only 
twenty-three, and a fighting lieutenant. He ran a good chance of 
being killed any day. Mrs. Schley is a pretty woman with a charm- 
ing smile. She is a native American of good old Maryland stock 
and a burning, fiery patriot, who accompanies her husband as far 



656 UNITED STATES NAVAL COMMANDERS. 

toward war as she can. She is a very jolly and popular woman, as 
ready to dance or make merry as she was when a young girl. 

Thomas Schley, the Maryland founder of the family, began life in 
the town of Frederick, Md., away back in the last century. Henry 
Schley, an uncle of the Commodore, fought under old " Fuss and 
Feathers" in the war of 1812, and so young Schley was named 
Winfield Scott after that grim warrior. Another uncle fought under 
Scott in Mexico while Schley was a tiny boy. 

A Fighter From His Boyhood. 

Schley was born in a little place called Richfield, near Frederick. 
He was a mischievious boy, always endangering his neck,, robbing 
birds' nests or playing pranks on the woolly-headed old " uncles," 
for which they all idolized him. He was a fighter by instinct. He 
went to Annapolis instead of West Point because it was nearer and 
promised more fracases for future diversion. He made no mark in 
the Naval Academy, but graduated in i860. He was near the foot 
of his class. That wasn't because he was stupid, but because he was 
so busy with important mischief that he couldn't get much time to 
study. 

None of his scrapes was very serious, however, except one. That 
was when he challenged a fellow-officer to fight. To issue such a 
challenge was a serious offence, but the matter was overlooked 
because, as President Lincoln remarked a little later on a similar 
occasion, the American people are always ready to find an apology 
for a man who is guilty of being too ready to fight. He was a bold 
and plucky petty officer in the war, serving on the blockade ships, 
but, of course, too young for important command. Nevertheless he 
became known as a courageous youngster, ready for anything. 

Probably no naval officer in the world has had such varied experi- 
ence of so many kinds, in war and peace, as Schley. Briefly, it is this : 

In 1861-65, active service in the civil war; 1865, suppressed a riot 
of 400 Chinamen on one of the Chincha Islands, also landed in La 
Union, San Salvador, because of an insurrection, and took possession 
of the Custom-House to protect American interests; 1 871, landed 



UNITED STATES NAVAL COMMANDERS. G57 

marines in Corea and thrashed the natives ; 1876, punished pirates in 
the lower Congo; 1884, rescued Greely, the Arctic explorer; 1890, 
took Ericsson's body to Sweden ; 1891, commanded the Baltimore 
in Valparaiso and landed marines once more — a favorite manoeuvre 
with him; 1892, went on lighthouse service, with headquarters at 
Staten Island; 1893, made plans for buoying New York Harbor; 
1895, succeeded Robley D. Evans, "Fighting Bob," as commander 
of the cruiser New York. 

Expedition to Rescue Greely. 

Between whiles he visited Japan and other far-off places, did scien- 
tific work, rescued shipwrecked sailors and did general utility work. 
Twice before Commodore Schley has been a leading figure in the news- 
papers. In 1884 he was the first officer to volunteer to rescue General 
(then Lieutenant) Greely away up in the Arctic regions. It is said 
that on the Greely expedition some of Schley's officers were disposed 
to protest that he was taking serious risks with his ships. His reply 
was : " Gentlemen, there are times when it is necessary to take risks. 
This is one of those times." 

He commanded the expedition of the Thetis, Bear and Alert and 
brought the survivors in triumph to St. John's, N. F. It was a good, 
clean, quick job, well done, and his arrival was just in the nick of 
time. It was dramatic. It led to promotion and the command of the 
Baltimore, then a new ship. In 1 891 Schley came back in a hurry 
trom his Ericsson trip to Sweden and hurried to Valparaiso, Chili, in 
the Baltimore. It was a fine, new, nice white ship, and he did want 
to try her. There is not much doubt of that. 

In Chili there was a civil war on. Minister Egan was accused of 
favoring one side. Feeling against the Americans ran high. It cul- 
minated when two sailors of the Baltimore were murdered in the 
streets of Valparaiso, the police looking on, and probably assisting. 
Schley landed marines at midnight. He has been criticised for this, 
but at least he was not afraid to fight. Because of this willingness he 
got no chance to do so. 

There was a day when a rumor reached New York that the Balti- 
42 D 



658 UNITED STATES NAVAL COMMANDERS. 

more had been blown up — as the Maine was. What really happened 
was this : war between Chili and the United States was imminent. 
There was talk, away down there, of a combined attack on the Balti- 
more to be made by the Chilian cruisers Esmeralda, and Almirante 
Cochran and by torpedo boats. On either side of the Baltimore lay 
the German ship Leipzig and the British Melpomene. Schley 
requested their commanders to change their anchorages and give his 
guns a fair show. They did as requested, the Englishman rather 
unwillingly. There was no fight. 

Maybe Schley did wear the chip on his shoulder a little too promi- 
nently. His transfer to the lighthouse service was construed as a 
rebuke. It was net until 1895 that he again received command of a 
ship. Schley wears a fine gold watch. It was voted to him by the 
Maryland Legislature after his rescue of Greely. More than this he 
values a fine ebony cane with a gold head given him by the crew of 
the Baltimore when he was relieved of the command. 

Brave and Dashing Commander. 

The spokesman chosen by the seamen on this occasion touched his 
cap, and with a scrape of his foot said : " You know, sir, that when you 
were an officer the regulations would not allow us to give you a present, 
but now that you have given up the command of the ship you are 
only a gentleman.'' He is a born fighter. Wherever since the war 
broke out there has been a promise of trouble, Schley has been 
pretty apt to be on the spot. He is resolute, resourceful and daring, 
quick to decide in an emergency and confident in himself. It would 
always be his instinct in battle to take the offensive, to strike the first 
blow. 

It is said that when he was appointed to the command of the flying 
squadron he went to the President and begged permission to go to 
meet the Spanish flotilla of torpedo boats and torpedo-boat destroyers 
which had started across the ocean. He urged that the approaching 
armada could not be regarded otherwise than as a serious menace. 
Spain, in sending it, was to all intents and purposes committing an 
act of war. At the very least, it ought to be stopped and made to 



UNITED STATES NAVAL COMMANDERS. 659 

go back; if it would not comply with this command, then it should be 
attacked. 

He thought there was no use in temporizing in such an emergency, 
the boats were designed to assail the United States, and they ought 
not to be permitted to arrive in our waters. That is the kind of man 
Commodore Schley is. He is a fighter to the backbone, and has 
always borne that reputation in the navy. 

Famous Fighting "Bob" Evans. 

Another naval officer deserves special notice. One of the best 
known commanders of the navy is Capt. Robley D. Evans, who was 
appointed to the command of the big battleship Iowa. Captain 
Evans has qualities which win popular interest. He is dashing ag- 
gressive and blunt, and he has a picturesque way of expressing his 
opinions. It is related of Gen. "Pap" Thomas that a pleasant smile 
crept across his grim face when he was told that his soldiers had 
given him an affectionate nickname; for such a nickname was a proof 
that he had won the hearts and confidence of his men. We do not 
nickname persons in whom we are not interested. The captain of 
the Iowa enjoys a nickname. He is called Fighting Bob Evans. 

Many stories are told about Captain Evans. He is a Virginian by 
birth, and it is related of him that when the South seceded, his mother 
without his consent, sent his resignation to Washington. The young 
cadet, however, persuaded the department to abrogate it, and promptly 
rejoined the service. 

He entered the Naval Academy from Utah in i860, and stayed 
there until 1863, when he was promoted to ensign. In the assault 
on Fort Fisher he landed with a force of seamen and marines, and 
was wounded twice by rifle shots. He still bears the marks of his 
service at that time, and has a medal of honor. He lamed his leg 
in another engagement, the assault from the water upon Fort Sumter. 
He had charge of two guns of his ship when that attack was made. 
A shell came through a porthole, tore a trench in the deck and broke 
his kneecap. He did not go below. He lay in the trench made by 
the shell from Fort Sumter, refusing to be taken to the surgeon in 



660 UNITED STATES NAVAL COMMANDERS. 

the cockpit, and from this position fought his two guns until the fight 
was over. 

He was for several years an instructor in seamanship in the Naval 
Academy. Many of the younger officers of the navy were under his 
tutelage at that institution and upon practice cruises. While he was 
always strict and often sarcastic in his remarks to the youngsters, he 
was at the same time zealous to make good officers of them. An 
officer who was a midshipman under Evans, says that one day at sea- 
manship drill he, as a royal yardsman, made an error in sending down 
yards. Evans, from the quarter-deck, ordered him to " lay down from 
aloft and comb the hayseed out of his hair." " It was a pretty severe 
rebuke," said the officer. " He thought that his rebuke would do the 
work, and I am happy to say that it did." 

Ready to Enforce His Order. 

Captain Evans was placed in command of the gunboat Yorktown 
in July, 1891. The vessel entered the harbor of Valparaiso when the 
relations between Chili and the United States were strained. The 
vessel was small and carried few guns, but what she lacked in arma- 
ment her commander made up in nerve. The Yorktown was an- 
chored directly in front of one of the water batteries, a shot from any 
of which would have sunk her. 

Shortly after the arrival of the vessel the Chilians had torpedo prac- 
tice. They had a number of small boats fitted with long arms, on which 
the torpedoes were placed, and as the only vessel in the harbor was the 
Yorktown, they made her the point of attack, much to the displeasure 
of Captain Evans. He stood on deck for some time watching the 
manoeuvres of the small vessels, until he could stand it no longer. He 
then ordered the ship cleared for action, and the guns were loaded. 
His cutter was ordered away, and he visited the commanding-general 
of the city. He lost no time in saying that he wanted the torpedo 
boats taken out of the harbor within half-an-hour, and his request 
was granted. 

Other events of his stay in Valparaiso harbor that year was his 
prompt denunciation of any Chilian criticism upon his course in firing 



UNITED STATES NAVAL COMMANDERS. 661 

a salute to the Spanish Minister when the latter came aboard his ship 
with a couple of refugees. He won his name of Fighting Bob at 
Valparaiso. When old Captain Josiah Tattnall joined the British 
sailors in the attack on the Chinese forts at Pei-ho, he excused his 
breach of neutrality by declaring that " Blood is thicker than water." 
The words are still quoted frequently, and are but one of a number of 
famous sayings attributed to officers of the United States Navy. 
Lawrence's " Don't give up the ship," belongs, of course, in this 
category. One of Evans' sayings is that " it would please him to 
make Spanish the prevailing language in perdition for the next five 
years." 

Captain Taylor's Honorable Record. 

Captain Henry C. Taylor, commanding the Indiana, is a classmate 
and brother-in-law of Captain Evans. He graduated from the Naval 
Academy with honor, in May, 1863, having completed the entire 
course in two years and eight months. He served with honor 
through the rest of the war and has ever since been considered one 
of the most intelligent and best all-around officers in the navy. He 
was president of the Naval War College, and no one is better versed 
in naval strategy than Captain Taylor. He is one of the most pro- 
gressive men in the navy, and by keeping abreast of naval affairs and 
improvements he fitted himself to be of the greatest value to the 
Government in hastily preparing for war. 

The commander of the Puritan, Captain Purnell F. Harrington, 
entered the Naval Academy in 1861, graduating three years later, thus 
being able to see service in the war. He is a man of remarkable 
brilliancy of intellect and an altogether splendid officer. He has made 
a study of torpedoes, and is of great value to the service as an expert 
on high explosives. 

Captaiu Nicoll Ludlow, who has the Terror, is a classmate of Cap- 
tains Evans and Taylor, and a brother of Colonel Ludlow, of the 
engineers, in charge of the defenses at Sandy Hook. Among civilians 
all over the country Captain Ludlow has many friends. His record 
in war and peace, as well as his keen judgment and strong will, insure 
for his ship a reputation justifying her name. 



662 UNITED STATES NAVAL COMMANDERS. 

The Terror's sister ship, the Amphitrite, is commanded by Captain 
C. J. Barclay, who entered the service in i860 and passed through 
the war with credit. He was master of the famous Kearsarge, and 
became a lieutenant as the war ended. He has commanded a num- 
ber of ships and had the Alert for three years ; his reputation is 
without a blemish, and his ship is always well handled. 

Captain French E. Chadwick commands the New York, the 
armored cruiser. He was chief of the Bureau of Equipment, and a 
member of the Maine Court of Inquiry. Captain Chadwick entered 
the Naval Academy just too late for him to get any active war service. 
He has a fine reputation as an officer and as commander of the Mar- 
blehead in the Squadron of Evolution, in 1890. This officer is con- 
stantly studying over plans for increasing the efficiency of the navy. 
His influence is always at work to see that our navy takes advantage 
of all modern improvements. 

A Popular Naval Officer. 

Captain John W. Philip, of the battleship Texas, is but four num- 
bers below Commodore Schley. At the Naval Academy he was 
declared to be the most popular man of his class, and this reputation 
he has maintained ever since. Probably no man in the navy has 
more friends and fewer enemies than " Jack " Philip. He was at sea 
during the war, and has seen as much active war service as any com- 
mander in the Atlantic. He was commissioned lieutenant in 1862 
and was wounded in the leg during that year at the siege of Charles- 
ton. Captain Philip is a safe and brave officer and a courteous 
gentleman. 

The Massachusetts is commanded by Captain Francis Jo Higginson. 
Captain Higginson was at the Naval Academy when the necessity for 
educated young officers for war services called him into active sea 
duty. He had to fight from the moment he left the school. The 
capture of the privateer Judith, the bombardment of Forts Jackson 
and St. Philip, the breaking up of the defenses at New Orleans and 
the bombardment of Fort Sumter are some of the engagements that 
prepared him for command. He became a lieutenant in the second 



UNITED STATES NAVAL COMMANDERS. 663 

year of the war. Captain Higginson is widely known among naval 
men, is thoroughly respected as an officer and will do his duty always. 

The armored cruiser Brooklyn was sent to Europe carrying Ad- 
miral Miller to represent this Government at the Queen's Jubilee. 
She was then and is still commanded by Captain Francis A. Cook ) 
whose kindly good nature and uniform courtesy added so much to 
the good impression that the ship made abroad. 

Captain Cook had been at the Naval Academy one year when Sum- 
ter was fired on. He left as soon as possible to join the Gulf Squad- 
ron, with which he served with credit. Since the close of the war 
his career has been a uniform success. He is one of the finest officers 
in a remarkably well officered service. 

Won Promotion by Gallantry. 

The Columbia is commanded by Captain James H. Sands, who was 
also of the class of i860 at the academy of which more than half the 
commanding officers of our best warships were members. He made 
a reputation as a fighter before he had been a year in the service. 
During the attacks on Fort Fisher his gallantry won for him two re- 
commendations for promotion from the Board of Admirals. Since 
the war he has been kept busy and he is highly respected and 
esteemed by all seamen of the navy. 

Captain Theodore F. Jewell, was put in charge of the Minnea- 
polis, saw but little actual war service, but he has had important com- 
mands, including charge of the naval torpedo station, and he is known 
to be a man of the stamp that leads in warfare. He certainly is an 
able officer. 

There are many other distinguished officers commanding the 
smaller cruisers and the gunboats. Some of these are of the same 
rank and age as those mentioned. Prominent among them is Captain 
Colby M. Chester, of the Cincinnati. Captain Chester saw hard 
fighting under Farragut and was in the engagement that took place 
in Mobile Bay. He represented the Navy Department at the Grant 
monument celebration and naval parade in the Hudson ; afterward he 
was the senior officer in command of one of our squadrons. All the 



664 UNITED STATES NAVAL COMMANDERS. 

commanders of the smaller ships are men who are ready and fully- 
equipped to take charge of the great battleships. 

Running down the list through the lieutenant commanders and 
lieutenants we find many officers who have done promising things. 
Being comparatively young, their chances for glory have been fewer 
than those of the officers above commanders' rank. They are anxious 
for opportunities to show the kind of stuff of which they are made. 

Renowned Hero of the Battle of Manila- 
Commodore George Dewey, the hero of the great naval battle of 
Manila, is an old warrior of the navy, who got his christening of fire 
aboard the old steam sloop Mississippi, under Farragut, in the early 
days of the civil war. Commodore Dewey is now about 61 years 
old. He belongs in Vermont, and he was appointed to the Naval 
Academy from that State in September, 1854. Four years later, 
when he was graduated, he was sent aboard the steam frigate Wabash 
for a cruise in the Mediterranean. Dewey got his commission as 
lieutenant on April 19, 1861, eight days after Fort Sumter was fired 
upon, and he was immediately assigned to join the Mississippi and 
do duty with the West Gulf squadron. 

He was on the Mississippi when she took part with Farragut's 
other vessels in forcing an entrance to the Mississippi river, and 
again when the fleet ran the gauntlet of fire from the forts below New 
Orleans in April, 1862, and forced the surrender of that city. The 
ship he was in belonged to Captain Bailey's division of the fleet which 
attacked Fort St. Philip. 

The hottest fight that the Mississippi ever engaged in was her last 
one, and this was perhaps as hot as any of the war. In March, 1863, 
the fleet tried to run by the Confederate batteries at Port Hudson. 
Some of the ships got as far as a narrow part of the channel, where 
they met land batteries almost muzzle to muzzle, and then they were 
forced to retreat. The Mississippi did not get as far as this. A 
foggy day had been chosen for the attempt, and this was soon made 
more obscure by the smoke of battle, and amid this the Mississippi 
lost her bearings and ran ashore. 



UNITED STATES NAVAL COMMANDERS. 665 

Her officers found that she had struck just under the guns of a 
battery in the middle of the line of fortifications, and one of the 
strongest of the lot. In half an hour 250 shots struck the vessel, 
and she was riddled from end to end. There was no chance to hold 
her, and her crew took to their boats and landed on the opposite side 
of the river, after setting her on fire. Soon, lightened by the loss of 
the crew and by the fire, she drifted off, and blazing and saluting 
with bursting shells, she drifted down the river, until finally the fire 
reached her magazines, and her career was ended in one great ex- 
plosion. 

Long and Brilliant Career. 

Dewey was next attached to the steam gunboat Agawan, of the 
North Atlantic blockading squadron, and he took part in the two 
attacks made on Fort Fisher in December, 1864, and January, 1865. 
In March, 1865, he got his commission as lieutenant commander, 
and as such served on the famous old Kearsage and on the Colorado, 
the flagship of the European squadron, until 1868, when he was sent 
for service to the Naval Academy. 

His first command was in 1870, when he had the Narragansett, 
doing special service. He became a commander in April, 1872, and, 
still on the Narragansett, was engaged in making surveys of the Pa- 
cific until 1876, when he was made a lighthouse inspector, and later 
the secretary of the Lighthouse Board. He commanded the Juniata 
on the Asiatic station in 1882-83, and in September, 1884, was made 
a captain and put in charge of the Dolphin, then brand-new and one 
of the four vessels which formed the original " white squadron." 

The following year he was sent to command the flagship Pensa- 
cola, of the European squadron, and he stayed there until 1888, when 
he became the Chief of the Bureau of Equipment and Recruiting, 
with the rank of commodore. This place he held until 1893, when 
he was made a member of the Lighthouse Board. He got his com- 
mission as commodore on February 28, 1896, and at about the same 
time was made president of the Board of Inspection and Survey. 
This place he held until he was put in command of the Asiatic station, 
in January of this year. 



Great Naval Battle at Manila. 

AT the outbreak of hostilities Commodore Dewey and a squadron 
of war vessels was despatched to Asia to operate against the 
Philippine Islands. This was not at first regarded as a move 
of any great importance, but in a short time it was seen that a naval 
battle would be the result, and if Commodore Dewey were successful 
the town of Manila would be compelled to surrender and a fatal blow 
would be struck to Spanish dominion in the far East. 

Very soon there was an eager expectation of stirring news from 
Commodore Dewey's fleet. It was well known that the Commodore 
was a fighter of heroic type, a man of great decision and energy, and 
the common impression was that he would render a good account of 
his expedition. The public eagerness for news was soon gratified. 

On May 1st, the American squadron, commanded by Dewey, won 
a complete and glorious victory over the Spanish fleet in the Philip- 
pines. The fighting was of the fiercest character, beginning in the 
early morning and lasting several hours. The bravery of the 
American seamen was of the highest character, and, led by the 
intrepid Dewey, inflicted upon the enemy a blow that may be termed 
almost a veritable rout. 

The Commodore Gives his Signal. 

During the night Commodore Dewey signalled to his war ships 
that were in Subic Bay, fifty miles to the north of Manila harbor, to 
clear the ships for action and to follow him. The squadron got under 
way, with the flagship Olympia leading, and followed by the cruiser 
Baltimore, cruiser Boston, cruiser Raleigh, gunboat Concord, gunboat 
Petrel, revenue cutter McCulloch, and transports Nanshan and Zafiro. 
There had been a consultation of the captains on board the flagship 
during the night, and it was decided that the first stroke should be 
made decisive. 
66Q 



GREAT NAVAL BATTLE AT MANILA. 



$67 



At 4.15 o'clock in the morning the lookout on the masthead of the 
Olympia reported the Spanish fleet off the port bow lined up between 
Cavite and the mouth of Manila harbor. The distance between the 
two places is about eight miles. The Spanish fleet was commanded 
by Admiral Montijo and consisted of the cruiser Reina Cristina, 
cruiser Castilla, cruiser Velasco, cruiser Don Antonio de Ulloa, 
cruiser Don Juan de Austria, gunboat General Lezo, gunboat El 




MANILA, INCLUDING FORTS CAVITE AND COKREGGIDOR. 

Cano, -gunboat Isla de Cuba, gunboat Isla de Luzon, and dispatch 
boat Marques del Cuero. 

The news of the battle, which came through Government sources 
and by way of the Spanish eable, showed that the attack was terrible 
in its energy. Signalling for the American transports to keep well 
out, and that the Olympia and Baltimore would engage the Spanish 
admiral's flagship, the Reina Cristina, and the Castilla, the largest of 
the enemy's fleet, the American warships moved in line of battle on 
the Spaniards. On both sides of Manila are erected forts well manned, 
though the reports as to the strength of the armament were conflicting. 



668 GREAT NAVAL BATTLE AT MANILA. 

As soon as his ships had been worked around so that their star- 
board batteries presented a broadside to the enemy, Commodore 
Dewey began a terrific cannonading of the enemy's ships and the 
Spanish forts. Every shot told. The Olympia's battery consisted of 
four eight-inch rifles, ten five-inch rapid-fire guns, 14 six-pounders, 
six one-pounders, four machine guns and six torpedo tubes. The 
heaviest battery of the enemy was on the Reina Cristina, which had 
six 6.2-inch Hontoria guns, two 2.7-inch, and three 2.2-inch rapid-fire 
guns; two 1.5-inch, six three-pounders, two machine guns and five 
torpedo tubes. 

Commodore Dewey directed the movements of the squadron from 
the conning tower of the Olympia. He moved his ship close up to 
the Reina Cristina and sent shell after shell ploughing into the 
Spanish admiral's hull. Captain Charles V. Gridley, of the Olympia, 
was with him. The superior aim and heavier projectiles f){ the 
Olympia soon began to tell, and the fire from the Spanish grew more 
wild and somewhat slower. 

Terrific Din of Battle. 

Captain Dyer, of the Baltimore, put his ship in close fighting dis- 
tance to the Castilla. The Baltimore had four eight-inch and six six- 
inch guns in her main battery to the Castilla's four 5.9-inch Krupp 
guns and two 4.7-inch and three 2 2- inch guns. Both ships had good 
secondary batteries for cruisers. 

The din of battle was terrific. All the while the Spanish forts were 
keeping up an incessant fire on the American fleet. The ships were 
enveloped in a cloud of smoke, weighted by the early morning air, 
and the incessant crack of the rapid-fire guns and booming of the big 
guns mingled into voluminous thunder. 

The Boston, 3,189 tons; the Raleigh, 3,182 tons; the Concord, 
1,700 tons; the Petrel, 890 tons, and the McCulloch had about all 
they could do to handle the Velasco, Don Antonio de Ulloa, Don 
Juan de Austria, General Lezo, El Cano, Marques del Quero, Isla de 
Cuba and Isla de Luzon, but by quick manceuvering and rapid work 
of the guns fought their way to victory bravely. 



GREAT NAVAL BATTLE AT MANILA. 669 

The hot work on the Olympia brought the end of the Reina 
Cristina. A shot from the American exploded a magazine on the 
latter boat, and she took fire. Despite the efforts of the Spaniards, 
the flames made rapid headway. Captain Gridley worked his ship 
around to rake the Spaniard. He fought the Spanish ship with one 
battery and kept up a fire on the forts with the other. The masts on 
the American boats were shot away, but few shells got through the 
armor. 

A well-trained shot from the Olympia plunged through the fighting 
tower of the Reina Cristina and killed the ship's commander, Captain 
Cadasso. The Admiral was standing with him at the time. When 
the news that their commander had fallen spread through the ship 
the seamen seemed to lose heart. Their ammunition had been none 
too plentiful, and, with its rapidly failing quantity and the fire that was 
raging, they were ready to give up. 

Bravery of the Spanish Admiral, 

Then occurred a piece of bravery on the part of the Spanish 
Admiral. Seeing that his flagship was doomed and unable to fight, 
he ordered a small boat lowered, and, with a daring crew, rowed to a 
small gun-boat, Isla de Cuba, where he again hoisted his flag. The 
American sailors refused to fire on the plucky Admiral. Soon after 
he left the Reina Cristina the flames devoured the boat, most of the 
crew jumping overboard, only to drown in the waters of the bay. 

In the meantime Captain Dyer had sealed the fate of the Castilla. 
She, like the flagship, had considerable woodwork inside of her, and 
after being under fire for about two hours took fire. The American 
shells and deadly torpedoes plowed great holes in her sides and below 
the water line. Her crew fought valiantly, but was no match for the 
Americans. She was completely riddled and torn to pieces by the 
rain of leaden missiles. Most of her crew and officers were killed. 
She burned out, and after the engagement was but a smoking hulk. 

With the most formidable ships of the enemy disposed of, Com- 
modore Dewey, at 8 o'clock, withdrew with his ships a few miles out 
to sea. There the wounded were cared for, guns examined, some 



G70 



GREAT NAVAL BATTLE AT MANILA. 



tinkering done and preparation made for a second attack. At 9 
o'clock they started a second attack. The smoke had arisen and 
showed a wrecked Spanish fleet. The carnage wrought by the 
Americans was plainly evident. 



. . i>m j ii . 1 i j n, .- .J 1 '- ' J ; , 1 1 j 1 i ' 1 , ' M. ii i M iu i ii 1.1 







MANILA HARBOR— SCENE OF THE GREAT BATTLE. 

With as strong a fire as before, the fleet again moved into battle. 
Numbers were more equal, now that the enemy had lost several 
boats. During the first half hour of fighting, the Spanish cruiser 
Don Juan de Austria was severely damaged and her commander 



GREAT NAVAL BATTLE AT MANILA. (571 

killed. The Spanish forts were more active this time, and particular 
attention was paid to them, a strong fire being directed at the 
defenses. The Spanish ships Mindanao and Don Antonio de Ulloa 
were rendered useless, and the latter was sunk. 

Several of the Spanish ships were deliberately blown up to prevent 
their capture by the American fleet. Pouring a murderous fire into 
the forts, the American flagship and several more of the boats forced 
the entrance to the harbor. They steamed to the west side of the bay 
and there landed their wounded. 

Praise for Dewey's Achievement. 

Naval officers in London regarded Comodore Dewey's achievement 
as a great victory and pronounced it the annihilation of the Spanish 
fleet in the Philippines. The following is the text of the official dis- 
patch from the Governor General of the Philippines to the Spanish 
Minister of War at Madrid, Lieutenant-General Correa, as to the en- 
gagement off Manila : 

" Last night, April 30th, the batteries at the entrance to the fort 
announced the arrival of the enemy's squadron, forcing a passage in 
the obscurity of the night. At daybreak the enemy took up positions, 
opening with a strong fire against Fort Cavite and the arsenal. Our 
fleet engaged the enemy in a brilliant combat, protected by the Cavite 
and Manila forts. They obliged the enemy with heavy loss to ma- 
noeuvre repeatedly. At 9 o'clock the American squadron took refuge 
behind the foreign merchant shipping, on the east side of the bay. 

" Our fleet, considering the enemy's superiority, naturally suffered 
a severe loss. The Maria Christina is on fire and another ship, 
believed to be the Don Juan de Austria, was blown up. There was 
considerable loss of life. Captain Cadasso, commanding the Maria 
Christina, is among the killed. I cannot now give further details. 
The spirit of the army, navy and volunteers is excellent." 

Admiral Bermejo, the Minister of Marine at Madrid, expressed 
himself as highly pleased with the heroism of the Spanish marines, 
and telegraphed congratulations to Admiral Montejo and the valorous 
crews of the Spanish squadron under fire of superior war ships. 



STIRRING EVENTS OF NAVAL WARFARE. 
Remember the Maine. 

Dewey ! Dewey ! Dewey ! 

Is the hero of the day. 
And the Maine has been remembered 

In the good, old-fashioned way — 
The way of Hull and Perry, 

Decatur and the rest — 
When old Europe felt the clutches 

Of the Eagle of the West ; 
That's how Dewey smashed the Spaniard 

In Manila's crooked bay, 
And the Maine has been remembered 

In the good, old-fashioned way. 

Dewey ! Dewey ! Dewey I 

A Vermonter wins the day ! 
And the Maine has been remembered 

In the good, old-fashioned way. 
By one who cared not whether 

The wind was high or low 
As he stripped his ships for battle 

And sailed forth to find the foe. 
And he found the haughty Spaniard 

In Manila's crooked bay, 
And the Maine has been remembered 

In the good, old-fashioned way ! 

Dewey ! Dewey ! Dewey ! 

He has met the Don's array. 
And the Maine has been remembered 

In the good, old-fashioned way— 
A„way of fire and carnage, 

But carnage let it be, 
When the forces of the tyrant 

Block the pathway of the free! 
So the Spanish ships are missing 

From Manila's crooked bay, 
And the Maine has been remembered 

In the good, old-fashioned way ! 

Dewey ! Dewey ! Dewey ! 

Crown with victor wreaths of May,* 
For the Maine has been remembered 

In the good, old-fashioned way; 
And flags that wave triumphant 

In far-off tropic seas, 
With their code of symboled color 

Fling this message to the breeze: 
•' We have routed all the Spaniards 

From Manila's crooked bay, 
^nd the Maine has been remembered 

In the good, old-fashioned way." 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 673 

Further details of the great battle at Manila fully confirmed the 
first reports. In the first assault Admiral Dewey's flagship, the 
Olympia, took the lead, the other vessels following in her wake at 
four ships' length. The Spanish fleet was approached by laps, each 
turn bringing the contestants nearer. By this plan the American 
vessels frequently poured broadsides into the enemy, but were them- 
selves more exposed to fire. 

At one time the smoke became so dense that it was necessary to 
draw aside, allowing the cloud to lift. The vessels were examined, 
and it was found that they had sustained no damage. Breakfast was 
served to the men, and in a few minutes they re-entered the fight 
with the greatest enthusiasm. The second fight was even more 
fierce than the first. It was in that that the Baltimore was struck. 

A Shell that Did Terrible Execution. 

During the first fight the Spanish Admiral's ship put bravely out 
of the line to meet the Olympia. The entire American fleet concen- 
trated fire on her, and she was so badly injured that she turned 
around to put back. At this juncture the Olympia let fly an 8-inch 
shell, which struck her stern and pierced through almost her entire 
length, exploding finally in the engine room, wrecking her machinery. 
This shell killed the captain and sixty men, and set the vessel on fire. 

In the heat of the fight the two torpedo boats moved out to attack 
the fleet. They were allowed to come within 800 yards, when a 
fusilade from the Olympia sent one to the bottom with all on board, 
and riddled the other. The second boat was later found turned 
upon the beach covered with blood. 

In the second fight the Baltimore was sent to silence the fort at 
Cavite. She plunged into a cloud of smoke, and opened all her bat- 
teries on the fortifications. In a very few minutes a shell struck the 
ammunition, and the fort blew up with a deafening roar. 

The work on the Baltimore was glorious. After the principal 

ships had been destroyed the Concord, Raleigh and Petrel, being of 

light draft, were sent in to handle the remaining vessels of the fleet. 

They made quick work of them. In taking possession of the land 

43 D 



674 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

forts several hundred wounded Spaniards fell into the hands of the 
Americans, and nearly 200 dead were accounted for on the spot. 

Several shots struck the Olympia, and she was pierced a number 
of times. One shell struck the side of the ship against the hospital 
ward. The chaplain and nurses who were watching the fight through 
a port hole a few inches away were stunned by the concussion. 
Experts figured out the fighting volume of the guns of the respective 
sides as three for the Americans against seven for the Spanish. 

In honor of his distinguished services Commodore Dewey was 
raised to the rank of Admiral, and Congress passed a series of reso- 
lutions thanking him and his men for services rendered their country. 

Death of Ensign Bagley. 

On May nth Ensign Bagley, of the torpedo boat Winslow, and 
five men were killed, and five others were wounded, in Cardenas 
harbor, on the northern coast of Cuba, in an engagement with Spanish 
gunboats. The Americans displayed great bravery in the face of 
danger, the action of the United States gunboat Hudson being es- 
pecially notable in going to the rescue of the Winslow, and towing 
her out of range of the enemy's fire. Ensign Bagley was the first to 
lose his life in the war. On the same date there was an engagement 
between United States vessels and Spanish troops at Cienfuegos, on 
the southern coast of Cuba. One American was killed, and six 
badly wounded. The object of the expedition, however, was suc- 
cessful in cutting the cable from that point. 

On May 12th General Wesley Merritt was appointed Military 
Governor of the Philippines, and orders were given for troops to be 
sent to Manila for the purpose of capturing the town and occupying 
the Island. Agreeably to this order the cruiser Charleston sailed on 
May 1 8th for Manila, loaded with supplies and ammunition. 

On May 12th Admiral Sampson's squadron arrived off Porto Rico, 
and for three hours bombarded the forts of San Juan, inflicting serious 
damage upon them and the town. The Admiral then withdrew, 
stating that his objeet was not to capture San Juan, but to find, if 
possible, the Spanish fleet which had sailed some days previously 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 



676 



from the Cape Verde Islands. Great mystery attended the move- 
ments of the Spanish squadron. 

On May 19th the long suspense occasioned by the difficulty of as- 
certaining what Admiral Cervera intended to do with his fleet was 
over, and it was definitely known that his vessels were entrapped in 
the harbor of Santiago. The government resolved to send troops at 
once to that point to aid the fleet in capturing the town. While it 
was known that the Spanish vessels were inside the harbor of San- 
tiago it was considered impossible 
for our battleships to enter the har- 
bor on account of mines which had 
been planted, and the formidable 
attack sure to be made by batteries 
on shore. 

The entrance to the harbor of 
Santiago is very narrow, and vessels 
are compelled at one point to go 
through a channel not much over 
three hundred feet wide. Here oc- 
curred on the morning of June 3d 
one of the most gallant acts recorded 
in the annals of naval warfare. 
Lieutenant Hobson, naval construc- 
tor on the flagship of Admiral Samp- 
son, conceived the plan of blocking this narrow entrance by sinking 
the collier Merrimac, thus "bottling up " Cervera and his fleet. The 
reader will be interested in a detailed account of this remarkable 
exploit. 

When the Admiral's consent for making the daring venture was ob- 
tained, Mr. Hobson became impatient of all delay, and that very night, 
after the moon went down, he set the time for the attempt. Volun- 
teers were called for on all the ships of the fleet. Whole cheering 
crews stepped forward at the summons for the extra-hazardous duty. 
About three hundred on board the New York, one hundred and 
eighty on board the Iowa, and a like proportion from the other c hios 




LIEUT. K. P. HOHSON. 



676 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

volunteered, but Mr. Hobson decided to risk as few lives as pos- 
sible. 

He picked three men from the New York and three from the Mer- 
rimac. The latter were green in the service, but they knew the ship 
and had pleaded hard to go, and one man stowed away on board the 
collier. 

Six other men selected from various ships, with Ensign Powell in 
command, manned the launch, which was to lie at the harbor mouth 
and take off those who escaped. The Merrimac was made ready. 
Six torpedoes were strung along her port side, with wire connections 
to the bridge. Her anchors were lashed at the bow and stern. Her 
cargo of coal was shifted, and her cargo ports were opened so that 
she would more readily fill when the time came to cut her anchor 
lashings, open the seacocks and torpedo her bulkheads. 

A Critical Moment. 

The work was not completed until after four o'clock Thursday 
morning; but, with the sky paling in the east, Mr. Hobson headed in 
on his desperate mission. 

On board the ships of the fleet picketed about the entrance every 
officer and man, with many warm heart beats for their brave com- 
rades, awaited the issue, with eyes anxiously fixed on the jutting 
headlands that marked the entrance of the harbor. But as the Mer- 
rimac steamed forward Rear Admiral Sampson, pacing the deck of 
the flag-ship, looked at his watch and at the streaks in the east, and 
decided that the Merrimac could not reach the entrance before broad 
daylight. Consequently the torpedo boat Porter, which was along- 
side, was despatched to recall the daring officer. Mr. Hobson sent 
back a protest, with a request for permission to proceed. But the 
Admiral declined to allow him to take the risk, and slowly the Mer- 
rimac swung about. 

During the day Lieutenant Hobson went aboard the flagship. So 
absorbed was he in the task ahead of him that, unmindful of his ap- 
pearance and of all ceremony and naval etiquette, he told the Admiral 
in a tone of command that he must not again be interfered with. 




i 























677 



678 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 



" I can carry this thing through," said he, " but there must be no 
more recalls. My men have been keyed up for twenty-four hours 
and under a tremendous strain. Iron will break at last." When Mr. 
Hobson left the ship and the extended hands of his shipmates, more 
than one of the latter turned hastily to hide the unbidden tear. But 
the Lieutenant waved them adieu with a smile on his handsome face. 
The Merrimac started in shortly after three o'clock Friday morn- 
ing. The full moon had disappeared behind a black cloud-bank in 

the west. Three thousand strained 
eyes strove to pierce the deep veil of 
night. 

Suddenly there were several shots 
from the rocky eminence on which 
Morro Castle is situated. They were 
followed by jets and streams of fire 
from the batteries opposite. The Mer- 
rimac had reached the entrance of the 
harbor. She must have passed so 
close that a stone loosened from the 
frowning parapet of the Castle would 
have fallen on her deck. It seems a 
miracle that her apparently riddled 
hull could have reached the goal. After 
five minutes the firing ceased and all 
became dark again. 

When the curtain of the night was at 
last lifted the light disclosed a tiny steam launch riding the waves at 
the very throat of the entrance of the harbor. In an instant the guns 
of the shore batteries were turned upon her, and, with a last linger- 
ing, vain look for the crew of the Merrimac, Ensign Powell headed 
his launch close along shore to the westward. In this lay his salva- 
tion. The guns of the batteries to the westward could not be de- 
pressed enough to hit the little launch, and the guns on Morro Castle 
would not bear upon her. 

But the Spaniards, nevertheless, fired wildly, overshooting the 




J. W. POWELL AS A CADET. 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 679 

launch, until the latter was fully two miles up the coast. Then some 
of the shells began to drop fairly close, and one of them threw a cloud 
of spray on board the small craft In the meantime the ships of the 
fleet had drawn on until the New York, Massachusetts, Texas and 
Marblehead were barely three miles from Morro Castle. 







^22^ x < >^f 






HARBOR AND FORTIFICATIONS OF SANTIAGO. 
The star shows where the Merrimac was sunk. 

The fire of the great guns continued, but the gunnery seemed to 
grow worse, until the Spaniards became tired. They were not rash 
enough, except in two instances, to fire at the fleet, fearing probably 
to provoke an antagonist with the strength of Admiral Sampson. 
Knowing Hobson's desperate plan, the despatch boat had taken up 
a position opposite the narrow harbor entrance and just outside the 
line of the blockading war ships. 

From here the Merrimac was seen entering the harbor. A few 
minutes later the fire of the Spanish batteries was seen to be concern 
trated westward close to the shore. There a tiny thread of smoke 
disclosed their target. It was the New York's launch which Ensign 
Powell had gallantly held close under Morro's walls until after day- 
light, when, driven out by the fire of the big guns, he had run far up 
the shore, under the partial cover of the bluffs and had turned and 



680 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

eventually boarded the Texas out of range. Then he passed the 
New York. The brave fellow was broken-hearted at not finding 
Hobson and his men. 

Lying closer in than the war ships, Powell had seen the firing 
when the Merrimac and her dare-devil crew, then well inside Morro 
Castle, were probably first discovered by the Spaniards. He also 
heard an explosion, which may have been caused by Hobson's torpe- 
does. The Ensign was not sure. He waited vainly, hoping to 
rescue the heroes of the Merrimac, until he was shelled out by the 
forts. 

The work, however, was done. The big vessel had been swung 
across the narrow entrance to the harbor, the torpedoes had been 
fired, the explosion had come, the great collier was sinking at just 
the right point; and her gallant crew, having jumped into the water 
to save their lives, were taken on board the flagship of the Spanish 
Admiral, who praised their bravery, and sent an officer under flag of 
truce to assure Admiral Sampson that the heroic band was safe and 
would be well cared for. Spanish chivalry was forced to admiration. 

Bombardment of Forts at Santiago. 

On June 6th Admiral Sampson's vessels made a combined attack 
on the forts at Santiago. The bombardment lasted for about three 
hours and nearly all the fortifications at the entrance of the harbor 
were silenced, more than half of the guns being dismounted and ren- 
dered useless. During the last hour of the bombardment the forts 
failed to reply, as the gunners were driven from their places by shot 
and shell from the American ships. In stately style the vessels 
moved to the attack ; the marksmanship of Sampson's fleet was 
remarkably effective considering that heavy mist and rain obscured 
the batteries and the battle may be said to have been fought in the 
clouds. 

As our ships steamed away some of the Spaniards returned to their 
guns and fired a parting shot; none of the American vessels were 
seriously injured and not a life was lost. Admiral Sampson's official 
report stated that he had silenced the enemy's works. 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. * 68l 

On June 13th, about 15,000 men under General Shafter left Key 
West for Santiago, and on June 22d the troops were landed at 
Baiquiri, on the southern coast of Cuba. The landing was very suc- 
cessful, having been accomplished in two days, with the loss of only 
two men, and that by accident. Preparations were immediately made 
to move the army forward towards Santiago, with a view to capturing 
the town. 

It was not long after General Shafter's army landed before the 
United States troops were engaged in active service and had a 
sharp conflict with the enemy. The initial fight of Colonel Wood's 
Rough Riders and the troopers of the First and Tenth regular cav- 
alry will be known in history as the Battle of La Quasina. That 
it did not end in the complete slaughter of the Americans was 
not due to any miscalculation in the plan of the Spaniards, for as per- 
fect an ambuscade as was ever formed in the brain of an Apache 
Indian was prepared and Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt and his men 
walked squarely into it. 

For an hour and a half they held their ground under a perfect 
storm of bullets from the front and sides, and then Colonel Wood, at 
the right, and Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt at the left, led a charge 
which turned the tide of battle and sent the enemy flying over the 
hills toward Santiago. 

Number of Killed and Wounded. 

It is definitely known that sixteen men on the American side were 
killed, while sixty were wounded or reported to be missing. It is 
impossible to calculate the Spanish losses, but it is known that they 
were far heavier than those of the Americans, at least as regards 
actual loss of life. Thirty-seven dead Spanish soldiers were found and 
buried, while many others were undoubtedly lying in the thick under- 
brush on the side of the gully and on the slope of the hill. 

That the Spaniards were thoroughly posted as to the route to be 
taken by the Americans in their movements towards Sevilla was 
evident, as shown by the careful preparation they had made. The 
uiain body of the Spaniards was posted on a hill, on the heavily 



*68 2 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

wooded slopes of which had been erected two block houses, flanked 
by irregular intrenchments of stone and fallen trees. At the bottom 
of these hills run two roads, along which Lieutenant-Colonel Roose- 
velt's men and eight troops of the Eighth and Tenth Cavalry, with a 
battery of four howitzers, advanced. 

These roads are but little more than gullies, rough and narrow, 
and at places almost impassable. In these trails the fight occurred. 
Nearly half a mile separated Roosevelt's men from the regulars, and 
between them and on both sides of the road in the thick underbrush 
was concealed a force of Spaniards that must have been large, judging 
from the terrific and constant fire they poured in on the Americans. 

Beginning of the Battle. 

The fight was opened by the First and Tenth Cavalry, under 
General Young. A force of Spaniards was known to be in the 
vicinity of La Quasina, and early in the morning Lieutenant-Colonel 
Roosevelt's men started off up the precipitous bluff back of Siboney 
to attack the Spaniards on their right flank, General Young at the 
same time taking the road at the foot of the hill. 

About two and one-half miles out from Siboney, some Cubans, 
breathless and excited, rushed into camp with the announcement that 
the Spaniards were but a little way in front and were strongly en- 
trenched. Quickly the Hotchkiss guns out in the front were brought 
to the rear, while a strong scouting line was thrown out. 

Then cautiously and in silence the troops moved forward until abend 
in the road disclosed a hill where the Spaniards were located. The 
guns were again brought to the front and placed in position, while the 
men crouched down in the road, waiting impatiently to give Roosevelt's 
men, who were toiling over the little trail along the crest of the ridge, 
time to get up. 

At 7.30 a. m., General Young gave the command to the men at the 
Hotchkiss guns to open fire. That command was the signal for a 
fight that for stubbornness has seldom been equaled. The instant 
the Hotchkiss guns were fired, from the hillsides commanding the 
road came volley after volley from the Mausers of the Spaniards, 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 



*683 



"Don't shoot until you see something to shoot at," yelled Genera] 
Young, and the men, with set jaws and gleaming eyes, obeyed the 
order. Crawling along the edge of the road, and protecting themselves 
as much as possible from the fearful fire of the Spaniards, the troopers 
some of them stripped to the waist, watched the base of the hill, and 
when any part of a Spaniard became visible, they fired. Never for 
an instant did they falter. 

One dusky warrior of the Tenth Cavalry, with a rugged wound in 
his thigh, coolly 
knelt behind a rock, 
loading and firing, 
and when told by 
one of his com- 
rades that he was 
wounded, laughed 
and said : " Oh, 
that's all right. 
That's been there 
for some time." 

In the meantime, 
away off to the left 
could be heard the 
crack of the rifles 
of Colonel Wood's 
men and the regu- NEW CATLING GUN READY FOR ACTION, 
lar, deeper-toned volley-firing by the Spaniards. Over there the 
American losses were the greatest. Colonel Wood's men, with an 
advance guard well out in front and two Cuban guards before them, 
but apparently with no flankers, went squarely into the trap set for 
them by the Spanish, and only the unfaltering courage of the men in 
the face of a fire that would even make a veteran quail, prevented 
what might easily have been a disaster. As it was, Troop L, the 
advance guard under the unfortunate Captain Capron, was almost 
surrounded, and but for the reinforcements hurriedly sent forward 
every man would have probably been killed or wounded. 




*684 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

"There must have been nearly 1,500 Spanish in front and to the 
sides of us," said Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt when discussing the 
fight. " They held the ridges with rifle pits and machine guns, and 
hid a body of men in ambush in the thick jungle at the sides of the 
road over which we were advancing. 

" Our advance guard struck the men in ambush and drove them 
out. But they lost Captain Capron, Lieutenant Thomas and about 
fifteen men killed or wounded. The Spanish firing was accurate, so 
accurate indeed that it surprised me, and their firing was fearfully 
heavy. 

" I want to say a word for our own men," continued Lieutenant- 
Colonel Roosevelt. " Every officer and man did his duty up to the 
handle. Not a man flinched." 

Gallant Charge on the Enemy. 

From another officer who took a prominent part in the fighting 
more details were obtained. " When the firing began," said he, 
" Lieutenant-Colonel Roosevelt took the right wings with Troops G 
and K, under Captains Llewelyn and Jenkins, and moved to the sup- 
port of Captain Capron, who was getting it hard. At the same time 
Colonel Wood and Major Brodie took the left wing and advanced in 
open order on the Spanish right wing. Major Brodie was wounded 
before the troops had advanced one hundred yards. Colonel Wood 
then took the right wing and shifted Colonel Roosevelt to the left. 

" In the meantime the fire of the Spaniards had increased in vol- 
ume, but, notwithstanding this, an order for a general charge was 
given, and with a yell the men sprang forward. Colonel Roosevelt, 
in front of his men, snatched a rifle and ammunition belt from a 
wounded soldier and, cheering and yelling with his men, led the 
advance. 

" For a moment the bullets were singing like a swarm of bees all 
around them and every instant some poor fellow went down. On the 
right wing Captain McClintock had his leg broken by a bullet from 
a machine gun, while four of his men went down. At the same time 
Captain Luna lost nine of his men. 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. *68 5 

" Then the reserves, Troops K and E, were ordered up. There 
was no more hesitation. Colonel Wood, with the right wing, charged 
straight at a block-house about eight hundred yards away, and 
Colonel Roosevelt, on the left, charged at the same time. Up the 
men went, yelling like fiends and never stopping to return the fire of 
the Spaniards, but keeping on with a grim determination to capture 
that block-house. 

" That charge was the end. When within five hundred yards of 
the coveted point the Spaniards broke and ran, and for the first time 
we had the pleasure which the Spaniards had been experiencing all 
through the engagement of shooting with the enemy in sight." 

Deeds of Heroism. 

In the two hours' fighting, during which the volunteers battled 
against their concealed enemy, enough deeds of heroism were done 
to fill a volume. One of the men of Troop E, desperately wounded, 
was lying squarely between the lines of fire. Surgeon Church hur- 
ried to his side, and, with bullets pelting all around him, dressed the 
man's wound, bandaged it, and walked unconcernedly back, soon 
returning with two men and a litter. The wounded man was placed 
on the litter and brought into our lines. Another soldier of Troop 
L, concealing himself as best he could behind a tree, gave up his 
place to a wounded companion, and a moment or two later was him- 
self wounded. 

Sergeant Bell stood by the side of Captain Capron when the latter 
was mortally hit. He had seen that he was fighting against terrible 
odds, but he never flinched. " Give me your gun a minute," he said 
to the sergeant, and, kneeling down, he deliberately aimed and fired 
two shots in quick succession. At each a Spaniard was seen to fall. 
Bell in the meantime had seized a dead comrade's gun and knelt 
beside his captain and fired steadily. 

When Captain Capron fell he gave the sergeant a parting message 
to his wife and father, and bade the sergeant good-bye in a cheerful 
voice, and was then borne away dying. 

Sergeant Hamilton Fish, Jr., was the first man killed by the 



*686 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

Spanish fire. He was near the head of the column as it turned from 
the woodside into the range of the Spanish ambuscade. He shot 
one Spaniard who was firing from the cover of a dense patch of 
underbrush. When a bullet struck his breast he sank at the foot of 
a tree with his back against it. Captain Capron stood over him 
shooting and others rallied around him, covering the wounded man. 
The ground was thick with empty shells where Fish lay. He lived 
twenty minutes. He gave a small lady's hunting case watch from 
his belt to a messmate as a last souvenir. 

Impressive Burial Service. 

With the exception of Captain Capron all the Rough Riders killed 
in the fight were buried the following morning on the field of action. 
Their bodies were laid in one long trench, each wrapped in a blanket. 
Palm leaves lined the trenches and were heaped in profusion over the 
dead heroes. Chaplain Brown read the beautiful burial service for 
the dead, and as he knelt in prayer every trooper, with bared head, 
knelt around the trench. When the chaplain announced the hymn, 
" Nearer My God to Thee," the deep bass voices of the men gave a 
most impressive rendering of the music, 

The dead Rough Riders rest right on the summit of the hill where 
they fell. The site is most beautiful. A growth of rich, luxuriant 
grass and flowers covers the slopes, and from the top a far-reaching 
view is had over the tropical forest. Captain Brown marked each 
grave and preserved complete records for the benefit of friends of the 
dead soldiers. 

Captain Capron's body was brought into Juragua, but it was 
deemed inadvisable to send the remains north at this season and the 
interment took place on a hillside near the seashore, back of the pro- 
visional hospital. After a brief service a parting volley was fired 
over the grave of the dead captain and a bugle sounded " Taps " as 
the sun sank over the mountain tops beyond Santiago. 

The valor of the American troops had been tested, and so far from 
being found wanting, it was found that the volunteers acted with as 
great bravery as is commonly shown by veterans. 







*687 



*688 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

Troops from the Pacific slope were ordered to San Francisco, and 
on May 25th the transports which were to carry them to the Philip- 
pines were ready to sail. At four o'clock in the afternoon Brigadier- 
General Anderson gave the signal from the Australia for the City of 
Peking and the City of Sydney to get under way. The signal was 
seen from the shore and the waiting crowds commenced to cheer 
wildly. They knew what it meant as well as the sea captains for 
whom the signal was intended. No time was lost on board the trans- 
ports. The crews worked with a will, and in a short time the anchors 
were up and the vessels were under way. 

Expeditions Sail from San Francisco. 

The fleet was loaded with supplies to last a year, and carried a big 
cargo of ammunition and naval stores for Admiral Dewey's fleet. 

It was thought the fleet would not keep company with the Charles- 
ton after leaving Honolulu. All the vessels carried enough coal to 
steam at full speed from Honolulu to Manila, while the Charleston, 
in order to economize coal, would not go faster than ten knots an 
hour. 

A second expedition weighed anchor at San Francisco on the 
afternoon of June 15th. As the sun was setting the last transport 
passed out of the Golden Gate, and, led by the flagship China, the 
fleet steamed away toward Honolulu, where the vessels will recoal. 

That day's expedition carried 3,500 men, distributed among four 
vessels, as follows : assigned to the China, General Greene's flagship, 
the largest and fastest of the fleet, were the P"irst Regiment Colorado 
Volunteer Infantry, 1,022 men; half a battalion of the Eighteenth 
United States Infantry, 150 men, and a detachment of United States 
Engineers, 20 men. 

A third expedition for Manila was made ready at San Francisco, 
and on June 25th the troops went on board the transports. The 
same scenes of enthusiasm on the part of the people of the city were 
witnessed as attended the departure of the two preceding expeditions. 
It was considered that General Merritt would have a force quite 
sufficient to enable him to capture and hold Manila, 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. *68o 

Admiral Sampson ascertained that Admiral Cervera's fleet had 
moved into the upper harbor of Santiago. General Shafter in his des- 
patches to the Secretary of War complimented the fleet for its assistance 
in landing troops. With the soldiers landed from the Yale, and 
General Garcia's army transported from the westward, twenty-one 
thousand men in all had been disembarked in the vicinity of Santiago 
on June 29. 

The American officers showed the utmost energy in preparing for 
the attack on Santiago; by July 1st everything was in readiness, and 
General Shafter ordered a forward movement with a view of investing 
and capturing the town. The advance was made in two divisions, 
the left storming the works at San Juan. Our forces in this assault 
were composed of the Rough Riders, commanded by Lieutenant- 
Colonel Roosevelt, and the First, Third, Sixth, Ninth and Tenth dis- 
mounted cavalry. Catching the enthusiasm and boldness of the 
Rough Riders, these men rushed against the San Juan defences with 
a fury that was irresistible. 

Desperate Resistance by the Spaniards. 

Their fierce assault was met by the Spaniards with a stubbornness 
born of desperation. Hour after hour the troops on both sides fought 
fiercely. In the early morning the Rough Riders met with a similar, 
though less costly, experience to the one they had at La Quasina 
just a week before. They found themselves the target for a terrific 
Spanish fire, to resist which for a time was the work of madmen. 
But the Rough Riders did not flinch. Fighting like demons, they 
held their ground tenaciously, now pressing forward a few feet, then 
falling back, under the enemy's fire, to the position they held a few 
moments before. 

The Spaniards were no match for the Roosevelt fighters, however, 
and, as had been the case at La Quasina, the Western cowboys and 
Eastern " dandies " hammered the enemy from their path. Straight 
ahead they advanced, until by noon they were well along toward San 
Juan, the capture of which was their immediate object. 

There was terrible fighting about the heights during the next two 

44D 



*690 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

hours. While the Rough Riders were playing such havoc in the 
enemy's lines, the First, Third, Sixth, Ninth and Tenth cavalry gal- 
lantly pressed forward to right and left. 

Before the afternoon was far gone these organizations made one 
grand rush all along the line, carrying the Spaniards off their feet, 
capturing the San Juan fortifications, and sending the enemy in mad 
haste off toward Santiago. It was but three o'clock when these 
troops were able to send word to General Shafter that they had taken 
possession of the position he had given them a day to capture. 

In this attack the cavalrymen were supported by the Sixth and 
Sixteenth infantry, who made a brilliant charge at the crucial moment. 
The advance was up a long steep slope, through a heavy underbrush. 
Our men were subjected to a terrific fire from the enemy's trenches, 
and the Rough Riders and the Sixth cavalry suffered severely. 

Enemy Driven Back into the Village. 

There was no artillery to support the attack. The dynamite gun, 
which a detachment of Rough Riders, under charge of Sergeant 
Hallett Alsop Borrowe, had hauled up from the coast with such tre- 
mendous effort, was jammed during the opening hours of the engage- 
ment and rendered useless for the time. 

On the right General Lawton's division, supported by Van Home's 
brigade, under command temporarily of Colonel Ludlow, of the 
Engineers, drove the enemy from in front of Caney, forcing them 
back into the village. There the Spaniards for a time were able to 
hold their own, but early in the afternoon the American troops 
stormed the village defences, driving the enemy out and taking pos- 
session of the place. Gaining the direct road into Santiago, they 
established their lines within three-quarters of a mile of the city at 
sunset. 

While the battle was raging about Caney, Cuban scouts brought 
in the report that General Pando was hastening to the relief of the 
Spanish commander, General Linares, with four thousand trained 
Spanish troops. These reinforcements, the scouts reported, were 
wkhin ten miles of the city. 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. *6 9 i 

General Shafter's advance against the City of Santiago was resumed 
soon after daybreak on the morning of July 2d. The American 
troops renewed the attack on the Spanish defences with impetuous 
enthusiasm. They were not daunted by the heavy losses sustained 
in the first day's fighting. Inspired by the great advantages they 
had gained on the preceding day, the American troops were eager to 
make the final assault on the city itself. 

When the attack began the command of General Lawton occupied 
a position between Caney and Santiago, within three-quarters cf a 
mile of the city. The Rough Riders, with Lieutenant-Colonel 
Roosevelt in command, were but a short distance further from the 
city, to the northwest of Aguadores. Between these troops, present- 
ing a solid front along the entire eastern side of the city, was the 
main body of General Shafter's army. 

Successes of Shafter's Troops. 

Our forces began the day's fighting, hoping that the city would fall 
into their hands before dark. Their advance had been an uninter- 
rupted series of successes, they having forced the Spaniards to retreat 
from each new position as fast as it had been taken. Admiral Samp- 
son, with his entire fleet, joined in the attack. 

General Shafter, by sending forces to the south of Caney during 
the first day's fighting, made it impossible for the Spaniards in that 
village to fall back into Santiago when they were driven from their 
position. They had to retreat toward the west, where an attempt 
was made to form a junction with four thousand of General Pando's 
troops, who were hurrying forward to reinforce General Linares. 

It was estimated that the American losses in the first day's fighting, 
including killed and wounded, were over one thousand. The battles 
before the intrenchments around Santiago resulted in advantage to 
General Shafter's army. Gradually he approached the city, holding 
every foot of ground gained. In the fighting of July 2d, the Spanish 
were forced back into the town, their commanding general was 
wounded, and the day closed with the certainty that soon our flag 
would float over Santiago. 



*6 9 2 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

The fleet of Admiral Cervera had long been shut up in the harbor, 
and during the two days' fighting gave effective aid to the Spanish 
infantry by throwing shells into the ranks of the Americans. On the 
morning of July 3d, another great naval victory was added to the 
successes of the American arms, a victory no less complete and 
memorable than that achieved by Dewey at Manila 

Admiral Cervera's fleet, consisting of the armored cruisers Cris- 
tobal Colon, Almirante Oquendo, Infanta Maria Teresa and Viscaya, 
and two torpedo-boat destroyers, the Furor and the Pluton, which 
had been held in the harbor of Santiago de Cuba for six weeks by 
the combined squadrons of Rear-Admiral Sampson and Commo- 
dore Schley, was sent to the bottom of the Caribbean Sea off the 
southern coast of Cuba. 

Hurricane of Shells from Sampson's Fleet. 

The Spanish admiral was made a prisoner of war on the auxiliary 
gunboat Gloucester, and 1,000 to 1,500 other Spanish officers and 
sailors, all who escaped the frightful carnage caused by the shells 
from the American warships, were also made prisoners of war by the 
United States navy. 

The American victory was complete, and the American vessels 
were practically untouched, and only one man was killed, though the 
ships were subjected to the heavy fire of the Spaniards all the time 
the battle lasted. 

Admiral Cervera made as gallant a dash for liberty and for the 
preservation of the ships as has ever occurred in the history of naval 
warfare. In the face of overwhelming edds, with nothing before 
him but inevitable destruction or surrender if he remained any 
longer in the trap in which the American fleet held him, he made a 
bold dash from the harbor at the time the Americans least expected 
him to do so, and, fighting every inch of his way, even when his ship 
was ablaze and sinking, he tried to escape the doom which was writ- 
ten on the muzzle of every American gun trained upon his vessels. 

The Americans saw him the moment he left the harbor and com- 
menced their work of destruction immediately. For an hour or two 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. *6a3 

they followed the flying Spaniards to the westward along the shore 
line, sending shot after shot into their blazing hulls, tearing great 
holes in their steel sides and covering their decks with the blood of 
the killed and wounded. 

At no time did the Spaniards show any indication that they in- 
tended to do otherwise than fight to the last. They displayed no 
signals to surrender even when their ships commenced to sink and 
the great clouds of smoke pouring from their sides showed they were 
on fire. But they turned their heads toward the shore, less than a 
mile away, and ran them on the beach and rocks, where their destruc- 
tion was soon completed. 

Spaniards Escape to the Shore. 

The officers and men on board then escaped to the shore as well 
as they could with the assistance of boats sent from the American 
men-of-war, and then threw themselves upon the mercy of their cap- 
tors, who not only extended to them the gracious hand of American 
chivalry, but sent them a guard to protect them from the mur- 
derous bands of Cuban soldiers hiding in the bush on the hillside, 
eager to rush down and attack the unarmed, defeated, but valorous 
foe. 

One after another of the Spanish ships became the victims of the 
awful rain of shells which the American battleships, cruisers and gun- 
boats poured upon them, and two hours after the first of the fleet 
had started out of Santiago harbor three cruisers and two torpedo- 
boat destroyers were lying on the shore ten to fifteen miles west of 
Morro Castle, pounding to pieces, smoke and flame pouring from 
every part of them and covering the entire coast line with a mist 
which could be seen for miles. 

Heavy explosions of ammunition occurred every few minutes, 
sending curls of dense white smoke a hundred feet in the air and 
causing a shower of broken iron and steel to fall in the water on 
every side. The bluffs on the coast line echoed with the roar of 
every explosion, and the Spanish vessels sank deeper and deeper into 
the sand or else the rocks ground their hulls to pieces as they rolled 



*6 9 4 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

or pitched forward or sideways with every wave that washed upon 
them from the open sea. 

Admiral Cervera escaped to the shore in a boat sent by the Glou- 
cester to the assistance of the Infanta Maria Teresa, and as soon as 
he touched the beach he surrendered himself and his command to 
Lieutenant Morton and asked to be taken on board the Gloucester, 
which was the only American vessel near him at the time, with sev- 
eral of his officers, including the captain of the flagship. The Spanish 
admiral, who was wounded in the arm, was taken to the Gloucester, 
and was received at her gangway by her commander, Lieutenant 
Commander Richard Wainwright, who grasped the hand of the 
graybearded admiral and said to him: 

" I congratulate you, sir, upon having made as gallant a fight as 
was ever witnessed on the sea." 

Wainwright's Wonderful Fight. 

Lieutenant Commander Wainwright then placed his cabin at the 
disposal of the Spanish officers. At that time the Spanish flagship 
and four other Spanish vessels had been aground and burning for two 
hours, and the only one of the escaping fleet which could not be seen 
at this point was the Cristobal Colon. But half a dozen curls of 
smoke far down on the western horizon showed the fate that was 
awaiting her. 

The Cristobal Colon was the fastest of the Spanish ships, and she 
soon obtained a lead over the others after leaving the harbor, and 
escaped the effect of the shots which destroyed the other vessels. She 
steamed away at great speed with the Oregon, New York, Brooklyn 
and several other ships in pursuit, all of them firing at her constantly 
and receiving fire themselves from her after guns. 

There seemed no possibility whatever for her escape, and while her 
fate was not definitely known for some time, it was predicted from the 
words of Captain Robley D. Evans, of the Iowa, who returned from 
the westward with 340 prisoners from the Vizcaya. 

In answer to an inquiry, he shouted through the megaphone ; " I 
left the Cristobal Colon far to the westward an hour ago, and the 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. *6 9 s 

Oregon was giving her hell. She has undoubtedly gone with the 
others, and we will have a Fourth of July celebration in Santiago to- 
morrow." 

Captain Evans, who had been in the thick of the engagement up to 
the time he took the Vizcaya's officers and crew from the shore, said 
that to the best of his knowledge not one American ship had been 
struck. The torpedo-boat Ericsson, which also returned from the 
westward at about the same time, made a similar report, saying it was 
believed no man was injured on board the American ships, though 
another report had it that one man was killed aboard the Brooklyn. 
This report was afterward confirmed. 

Decks Strewn with Dead and Wounded. 

There was no means of telling what the Spanish loss was, but it 
was believed to have been very heavy, as the prisoners in custody re- 
ported their decks strewn with dead and wounded in great numbers, 
and besides, there was a statement that many bodies could be seen 
fastened to pieces of wreckage floating in the sea after the fight was 
over. A large number of the Spanish wounded were removed to the 
American ships. 

Another account by an eye-witness gives additional particulars of 
the great battle : 

" Three of the Spanish cruisers that were bottled up in Santiago 
harbor and two torpedo-boat destroyers were pounded into helpless 
hulks by the guns of Admiral Sampson's fleet on Sunday in a vain 
attempt to escape from the harbor. The vessels were beached in a 
last effort to save as many of the lives of the crews as possible. 

" Admiral Cervera, on board the M-ra Teresa, headed his fleet 
in the attempt to get away at about half-past 9 o'clock. So little 
were the Americans expecting the dash that the flagship New York 
was cruising up the coast to the east and returned only in time to 
see the finish of the fight and to fire a shot or two at the torpedo- 
boat destroyers. 

"The Iowa, Indiana, Oregon, Massachusetts, Texas, Brooklyn 
and the converted yacht Gloucester, formerly the Corsair, formed in 



*6 9 6 LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

position to give battle as soon as the Colon was sighted rounding 
the wreck of the Merrimac. 

" The American vessels did not open fire at once ; they waited 
until Cervera's ships were out of the range of Morro's guns before 
giving battle. Cervera headed to the west, the Colon in the lead, 
followed by the Vizcaya and Oquendo and the destroyers, all firing 
rapidly. 

"All of the American battleships opened fire at once, and the 
Spanish were soon in a hurricane of shot and shell, but the Teresa 
kept on bravely till when ten miles from the westward of Morro Cas- 
tle, Admiral Cervera turned his vessel to the shore and beached her. 
She was blazing in a score of places, but her guns kept at work and 
the white flag never showed until she was completely disabled. 

Desperate Bravery on Both Sides. 

" The Oquendo and Vizcaya were opposed to the Iowa, Texas and 
Indiana and wenL down to defeat with fearful swiftness, covering only 
about half the distance made by the Colon before their captains ran 
them ashore. Their crews fought with desperate bravery, but their 
courage was no match for the courage of our men, added to then 
superb gunnery. The Spanish shells went wild for the most part, 
but the American gun-fire was marked by merciless precision. The 
two cruisers, both on fire, were beached not more than one-quarter 
of a mile apart. 

" A most dramatic feature of the battle was the contest between the 
torpedo-boat destroyers and the Gloucester. The latter was struck 
several times and is the only American vessel reported damaged. 
At first the Gloucester fired upon them with her six pounders, but 
they ran past her and engaged the battleships. 

" Finding the fire too hot, they turned and attacked the Gloucester 
again until both destroyers were afire and had to be beached. Their 
crews threw themselves into the surf to save their lives. Just before 
this the New York came up and assisted in giving the finish blow to 
the destroyers. There was explosion after explosion from the 
beached vessels," 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. * 697 

Shafter's army was laboring at great disadvantage, not only on 
account of the intense heat and the shock of a great battle, but also 
on account of the loss and disability of so many officers. While 
none of the general officers had been wounded, no less than five of 
them were ill, and were they at home would be in bed. 

The heavy loss of officers was due to the dash and bravery of the 
officers themselves. Instance after instance was disclosed of officers 
springing in front of their commands and leading them in brilliant 
sorties against the enemy. Quite naturally the Spanish sharp- 
shooters singled out the officers as targets, and the result was that 
the American forces suffered particularly heavy in this respect. 

Intelligence was received on July 6th that between 12,000 and 
15,000 innocent victims of the war had fled to El Caney, just outside 
the city, in wild panic to escape the terrors of the threatened bom- 
bardment of Santiago, and they were confronted by the horrors of 
starvation. In their hopeless confusion they were appealing to 
General Shafter for succor. Most of them were foreigners, princi- 
pally French, or with an admixture of foreign blood, and their inter- 
ests were being looked after by their Consuls. 

When they were informed that General Toral refused to consider 
the question of surrendering they swarmed out of the north gate of 
the city all day, and trudged under the blazing sun over the road, 
which in many places was ankle-deep in mud. Tottering old men 
and women were supported by children, and mothers with babes at 
their breasts struggled on toward El Caney, and San Luis. 

Pathetic Sights on Every Side. 
They were crowded together in the houses, upon the verandas 
and in the streets. At daylight those who had been overtaken by 
darkness on the wayside began to pour into the village, numbering 
more than 15,000. They were not allowed to bring food with them, 
and those who had money were as destitute as those who were 
without. Rich and poor, cultured and ignorant, white and black, 
were huddled together, choking the passage-ways between the houses, 
all with gaunt despair written on their countenances. 



698* LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

The ignorant desired only to be fed and the cultured wanted to 
get away, anywhere, anyhow, away from the war which had driven 
them from their homes. Pathetic sights were witnessed on all sides. 
There were ladies of good birth and education, supported by frail 
girls who hid their faces from the vulgar gaze of others who surged 
about them. In the eyes of both mothers and daughters was the 
haunted look which wild animals have when driven to bay. 

Admiral Cervera sent to General Blanco at Havana the following 
report of the naval battle at Santiago : 

" In compliance with your orders I went out yesterday from San- 
tiago de Cuba with all the squadron, and after an unequaled combat 
against forces more than triple mine had all my squadron destroyed 
by fire. Teresa, Oquendo and Vizcaya beached and the Colon 
fleeing. I accordingly informed the Americans and went ashore and 
gave myself up. The torpedo- chasers foundered. 

" I do not know how many people were lost, but it will surely reach 
600 dead and many wounded. Although not in such great numbers, 
the living are prisoners of the Americans. The conduct of the crews 
rose to a height that won the most enthusiastic plaudits of the ene- 
my. The commander of the Vizcaya surrendered his vessel. His 
crew are very grateful for the noble generosity with which they are 
treated. Among the dead is Villimil and I believe Lasaga (spelling 
uncertain), and among the wounded Concas and Eulate. We have 
lost all ; are necessarily depressed. " Cervera." 

Exchange of Hobson and his Brave Men. 

Assistant Naval Constructor Richmond P. Hobson, of the flagship 
New York, and the seven seamen, who, with him, sailed the collier 
Merrimac into the channel of the harbor of Santiago de Cuba on June 
3d last, and sank her there, were surrendered by the Spanish mili- 
tary authorities, July 7th, in exchange for prisoners captured by the 
American forces. 

Hobson and his men were escorted through the American lines 
by Captain Chadwick, of the New York, who was awaiting them. 
Every step of their journey was marked by the wildest demonstra- 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. * 699 

tions on the part of the American soldiers, who threw aside all sem- 
blance of order, scrambled out of the entrenchments, knocked over 
tent guys, and other camp paraphernalia in their eagerness to see the 
returning heroes, and sent up cheer after cheer for the men who had 
passed safely through the jaws of death in their desire to serve their 
country. 

As Hobson and the men of the Merrimac approached the first line 
of entrenchments, occupied by the Rough Riders, low murmurs ran 
from one end of the line of cowboys and Eastern athletes to the 
other, and by the time the returning party reached them every man 
was on his feet, refusing to be restrained by the admonishing of the 
officers, cheering wildly and rushing over every obstacle that chanced 
to be in their way, in their efforts to reach Hobson and his party and 
grasp them by the hand. The released prisoners were soon sur- 
rounded and compelled to stop to receive the greetings, congratula- 
tions and vigorous, heartfelt handshaking of men they had never 
seen before. 

Hobson, so far as possible, grasped each hand extended towards 
him, and neither he nor his men made any protest against the most 
uncomfortable crowding and jostling which they had to undergo. 

Hearty Cheers from Sailors and Marines. 

If the young officer, whose home is in Alabama, had any race pre- 
judice, he certainly forgot all about it as he passed through the lines 
of soldiers on his way to General Wheeler's headquarters. He saw 
it was the uniform of the United States army, and he cared not for 
the color of its wearers, grasping the hands of the ebony-hued troop- 
ers of the Ninth and Tenth Cavalry, and expressing his thanks for 
their patriotic welcome with as much heartiness as he displayed to- 
wards men of his own race. He and all of his men were completely 
overcome by the reception accorded them, and tears rolled down 
their cheeks as the soldiers crowded around them. 

The same scenes of enthusiasm were repeated upon the arrival of 
the men at the hospital station and at our base at Juragua. Hobson, 
who reached there in advance of his companions, was taken on board 



700* LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

the New York immediately. The flagship's decks were lined with 
officers and men, and as Hobson clambered up her side and stepped 
on board his vessel the harbor rang with the shouts and cheers of his 
comrades, which were echoed by the crews of a dozen transports 
lying near-by. Hobson had little to say in regard to his experiences 
except that he and his companions had been well treated by the 
Spaniards and that they were all in excellent health. 

In conducting the exchange Colonel John Jacob Astor and Lieu- 
tenant Miloy, accompanied by Interpreter Maestro, were in charge 
of the Spanish prisoners. These consisted of Lieutenants Amelio 
Volez and Aurelius, a German, belonging to the Twenty-ninth Regu- 
lar Infantry, who were captured at El Caney on Friday last, and 
Lieutenant Adolfo Aries, of the First Provisional Regiment of Bar- 
celona, one of the most aristocratic military organizations of the 
Spanish army, and fourteen non-commissioned officers and privates. 
Lieutenant Aries and a number of the men were wounded in the 
fight at El Caney. The Spanish prisoners were taken through the 
American lines mounted and blindfolded. 

Siege Guns Ready for the Fight. 

The meeting between Colonel Astor and Major Irles was extremely 
courteous, but very formal, and no attempt was made by either of 
them to discuss anything but the matter in hand. Major Irles was 
given his choice of three Spanish lieutenants in exchange for Hobson 
and was also informed that he could have all of the fourteen men in 
exchange for the American sailors. The Spanish officers selected 
Lieutenant Aries, and the other two Spanish officers were conducted 
back to Juragua. 

It was then not later than 4 o'clock, and just as everything was 
finished and the two parties were separating, Major Irles turned and 
said courteously enough, but in a tone which indicated considerable 
defiance, and gave his hearers the impression that he desired hostili- 
ties to be renewed at once: "Our understanding is, gentlemen, that 
this truce comes to an end at 5 o'clock." 

Colonel Astor looked at his watch, bowed to the Spanish officer. 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. * 701 

without making a reply, and then started back slowly to the American 
lines with Hobson and his companions following. The meeting of 
the two parties and the exchange of prisoners had taken place in full 
view of both the American and Spanish soldiers, who were entrenched 
near the meeting place, and keen interest was taken in the episode. 

During the truce which General Shafter effected with General Lin- 
ares, the Spanish commander at Santiago, the American land and 
sea forces perfected plans to deal a smashing blow upon the city of 
Santiago. It is impossible to tell yet just when this blow will be 
delivered, but it was expected to fall at noon on Saturday, July 9th. 

General Shafter succeeded in getting his siege guns in command- 
ing positions at the front, and Sergeant Hallet Alsop Borrowe had 
his dynamite guns repaired and in position on San Juan Hill. Our 
troops also fortified themselves with protected rifle pits, from which 
they would be able to do the enemy much harm without themselves 
being especially exposed to the enemy's fire. 

Surrender of Santiago. 

In addition to these advantages gained on land by General Shafter 
he arranged with Admiral Sampson for the fleet to participate in the 
attack on the city. It was found impracticable for the fleet to shell 
Santiago from the bay, owing to the presence of mines and the sta- 
tioning of Spanish riflemen to protect the mine fields. To get around 
this difficulty Admiral Sampson decided to bombard Santiago from 
off Aquadores, from which point the guns of the fleet would be able 
to do great damage in the beleaguered city. 

The results of the operations against Santiago were foreseen by 
General Toral, who at once put himself in communication with the 
Spanish Government for the purpose of deciding whether to surren- 
der or continue a hopeless conflict. After attempting to save the 
Spanish troops from being included in the terms of capitulation, 
General Toral, on July 14th, made an unconditional surrender to 
General Shafter. 

Cervera took his ships to Santiago on May 19, and on May 30 Com- 
modore Schley reported that he had the Spanish Admiral bottled up. 



702* LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

That was just six weeks before the surrender. On June 3, the Mer- 
rimac was sunk in the mouth of the harbor in an attempt to cork the 
bottle, which was not entirely successful. Shafter's troops began 
landing at Baiquiri, fifteen miles from Santiago, on June 22, and Cer- 
vera's fleet was taken out of the harbor and destroyed on July 3, 
after a sanguinary battle by the land forces, lasting two days, July 1 
and 2. 

After that time there was no fighting of consequence, ten days 
having been consumed in negotiations for the surrender of the city. 
The campaign really lasted no more than twelve days — from June 20 
to July 3 — but the losses were very heavy, aggregating at least 1,800 
out of the army of 16,500 originally landed. The appearance of yel- 
low fever was an admonition that these losses would be greatly in- 
creased if the army should be kept at Santiago. 

By the terms of surrender our Government agreed to transport the 
ten or twelve thousand soldiers captured back to Spain. The down- 
fall of Santiago was hailed with delight throughout the country. 

Notable Council of War. 

We are able to furnish a reliable account of the preliminaries that 
preceded the surrender. It appears that on Monday, July 1 ith, 
General Shafter did not again demand the unconditional surrender of 
Santiago, which General Toral had refused on Sunday ; but he 
offered, as an alternative proposition, to accept the capitulation of the 
enemy and to transport the Spanish officers and troops to Spain, they 
to leave all their arms behind. He offered also to accept their parole. 
This proposition General Toral declined. 

It was decided next morning to hold a personal interview with 
Generol Toral. General Miles and his staff, accompanied by General 
Shafter and his staff, rode out to the front shortly before eight o'clock 
under a flag of truce. 

A request for a personal interview with the Spanish commander- 
in-chief was made and acceded to, and about nine o'clock General 
Miles, General Shafter, General Wheeler, General Gilmour, Colonel 
Morse, Captain Wiley and Colonel Mestre rode up, passed over our 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 



*703 



entrenchments and went down into the valley beyond. They were 
met by General Toral and his chief of staff under a spreading mango 
tree, at the bottom of the valley, about half way between the lines. 
The interview that followed lasted almost an hour. 

The situation was placed frankly before General Toral, and he was 




GENERAL WILLIAM R. SHAFTER. 

offered the alternative of being sent home with his garrison or being 
attacked by the combined American forces. The only condition im- 
posed was that he should not destroy the existing fortifications and 
should leave his arms behind. This latter condition the Spanish 
general, who does not speak English, explained through his inter- 
preter, was impossible. He said the laws of Spain gave a general no 
discretion. He might abandon a place when he found it untenable, 
but he could not leave his arms behind without subjecting himself to 



704 * LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

the penalty of being court-martialled and shot. His government^ 
he said, had granted him permission to evacuate Santiago. That was 
all. Further than that he was powerless to go. 

Without saying so in words, General Miles stated that the tenor of 
General Toral's remarks all betrayed his realization that he could not 
hold out long. When General Shafter explained that our reinforce- 
ments were coming up, that he was completely surrounded, and that 
new batteries were being posted, General Toral simply shrugged his 
shoulders. "I am but a subordinate," said he, "and I obey my 
government. If it is necessary we can die at our posts." 

The Spanish General. 

General Toral is sixty years old, with a strong, rugged face, and 
fine soldierly bearing. His brave words inspired a feeling of respect 
and admiration in the hearts of his adversaries. Nevertheless, the 
Spanish General's anxiety to avoid further sacrifice of life in his com- 
mand was manifest, and he did not hesitate to ask for time to com- 
municate the situation to Madrid, although he dubiously shook his 
head when he spoke of the probable response. 

During the course of an interview General Toral said the bom- 
bardment of Sunday and Monday had done little damage. He ad- 
mitted the shells from the guns of the fleet had destroyed four houses, 
but he asserted that only half a dozen soldiers of the garrison had 
been injured. He also volunteered the information when General 
Miles gallantly inquired after General Linares' condition that the lat- 
ter would in all probability have his left arm amputated at the 
shoulder. 

General Miles at the interview did not attempt to assume the direc- 
tion of the negotiations, but, as General of the United States Army, 
he vouched for the conditions General Shafter offered. Upon the 
return of our commanders to the American lines an important con- 
sultation was held at General Wheeler's headquarters. Generals 
Garcia and Castillo, with their staff, had ridden around from the 
extreme right to see General Miles. It was a notable group gathered 
under the protecting awning of General Wheeler's tent. 



OFFICIAL REPORTS OF THE DESTRUCTION 
OF CERVERA'S FLEET. 

Official reports made by Rear Admiral Sampson and Commodore 
Schley on the destruction of the Spanish fleet at Santiago on July 
3d were not made public until July 27th. They tell in detail of the 
work of each American ship in that great sea fight. 

U. S. Flagship New York, First Rate. 1 
Off Santiago de Cuba, Cuba, July 15, 1898- J 
Sir — I have the honor to make the following report upon the bat- 
tle with and the destruction of the Spanish squadron commanded by 
Admiral Cervera off Santiago de Cuba on Sunday, July 3, 1898 : — 

2. The enemy's vessels came out of the harbor between twenty-five 
minutes to ten and ten a. m., the head of the column appearing 
around Cay Smith at twenty-nine minutes to ten, and emerging from 
the channel five or six minutes later. 

3. The positions of the vessels of my command off Santiago at 
that moment were as follows : — The flagship New York was four 
miles east of her blockading station, and about seven miles from the 
harbor entrance. She had started for Siboney, where I intended to 
land, accompanied by several of my staff, and to go to the front to 
consult with General Shafter. A discussion of the situation and a 
more definite understanding between us of the operations proposed 
had been rendered necessary by the unexpectedly strong resistance 
of the Spanish garrison of Santiago. 

I had the day before arranged to go to General Shafter's head- 
quarters, and my flagship was in the position mentioned above when 
the Spanish squadron appeared in the channel. 

Position of the Fleet. 
The remaining vessels were in or near their usual blockading posi- 
tions; distributed in a semi-circle about the harbor entrance, count- 
ing from the eastward to the westward in the following order : — The 
Indiana about a mile and a half from the shore, the Oregon — the New 
York's place between these two— the Iowa, Texas and Brooklyn, the 
45- D * 705 



706 * LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

latter two miles from the shore west of Santiago. The distance of the 
vessels from the harbor entrance was from two and one-half to four 
miles — the latter being the limit of day blockading distance. 

The length of the arc formed by the ships was about eight miles. 
The Massachusetts had left at four a.m. for Guantanamo for coal. 
Her station was between the Iowa and Texas. The auxiliaries 
Gloucester and Vixen lay close to the land and nearer the harbor 
entrance than the large vessels, the Gloucester to the eastward and 
the Vixen to the westward. 

The torpedo boat Ericsson was in company with the flagship, and 
remained with her during the chase until ordered to discontinue, 
when she rendered very efficient service in rescuing prisoners from 
the burning Vizcaya. I enclose a diagram showing approximately 
the positions of the vessels as described above. 

4. The Spanish vessels came rapidly out of the harbor, at a speed 
estimated at from eight to ten knots and in the following order; 
— Infanta Maria Teresa (flagship), Vizcaya, Cristobal Colon and the 
Almirante Oquendo. The distance between these ships was about 
eight hundred yards, which means that from the time the first one 
became visible in the upper reach of the channel until the last one 
was out of the harbor an interval of only about twelve minutes 
elapsed. Following the Oquendo, at a distance of about twelve hun- 
dred yards, came the torpedo-boat destroyer Pluton, and after her 
the Furor. 

Shrouded in Smoke. 

The armored cruisers, as rapidly as they could bring their guns to 
bear, opened a vigorous fire upon the blockading vessels, and emerged 
from the channel shrouded in the smoke from their guns. 

5. The men of our ships in front of the port were at Sunday 
" quarters for inspection." The signal was made simultaneously 
from several vessels, " Enemy's ships escaping," and a general quar- 
ters was sounded. The men cheered as they sprang to their guns, 
and fire was opened probably within eight minutes by the vessels 
whose guns commanded the entrance. 

The New York turned about and steamed for the escaping fleet, 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. * 707 

flying the signal, " Close in toward harbor entrance and attack ves- 
sels," and gradually increasing speed, until, toward the end of the 
chase, she was making sixteen and one-half knots, and was rapidly 
closing on the Cristobal Colon. She was not, at any time, within 
the range of the heavy Spanish ships, and her only part in the firing 
was to receive the undivided fire from the forts in passing the harbor 
entrance, and to fire a few shots at one of the destroyers, thought at 
the moment to be attempting to escape from the Gloucester. 

Turned into a Chase. 

6. The Spanish vessels, upon clearing the harbor, turned to the 
westward in column, increasing their speed to the full power of their 
engines. The heavy blockading vessels, which had closed in toward 
the Morro at the instant of the enemy's appearance, and at their best 
speed, delivered a rapid fire, well sustained and destructive, which 
speedily overwhelmed and silenced the Spanish fire. 

The initial speed of the Spaniards carried them rapidly past the 
blockading vessels, and the battle developed into a chase, in which 
the Brooklyn and Texas had at the start the advantage of position. 
The Brooklyn maintained this lead. The Oregon, steaming with 
amazing speed from the commencement of the action, took first place. 

The Iowa and the Indiana, having done good work, and not having 
the speed of the other ships, were directed by me, in succession, at 
about the time the Vizcaya was beached, to drop out of the chase 
and resume blockading stations. These vessels rescued many 
prisoners. The Vixen, finding that the rush of the Spanish ships 
would put her between two fires, ran outside of our own column, and 
remained there during the battle and chase. 

7. The skillful handling and gallant fighting of the Glo ucester 
excited the admiration of every one who witnessed it and merits the 
commendation of the Navy Department. She is a fast and entirely 
unprotected auxiliary vessel— the yacht Corsair— and has a good 
battery of light rapid-fire guns. She was lying about two miles from 
the harbor entrance, to the southward and eastward, and immediately 
steamed in, opening fire upon the large ships. 



708 * LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

Anticipating the appearance of the Pluton and Furor, the Glouces- 
ter was slowed, thereby gaining more rapidly a high pressure of 
steam, and when the destroyers came out she steamed for them at 
full speed and was able to close to short range, where her fire was 
accurate, deadly and of great volume. During this fight the Glou- 
cester was under the fire of the Socapa battery. 

Destroying the Destroyers. 

Within twenty minutes from the time they emerged from Santiago 
harbor, the careers of the Furor and Pluton were ended, and two- 
thirds of their people killed. The Furor was beached and sunk in 
the surf; the Pluton sank in deep water a few minutes later. 

The destroyers probably suffered much injury from the fire of the 
secondary batteries of the battleships Iowa, Indiana and the Texas, 
yet I think a very considerable factor in their speedy destruction was 
the fire, at close range, of the Gloucester's battery. After rescuing 
the survivors of the destroyers, the Gloucester did excellent service 
in landing and securing the crew of the Infanta Maria Teresa. 

8. The method of escape attempted by the Spaniards — all steering 
in the same direction and in formation — removed all tactical doubts 
or difficulties, and made plain the duty of every United States vessel 
to close in, immediately engage and pursue. This was promptly and 
effectively done. 

As already stated, the first rush of the Spanish squadron carried it 
past a number of the blockading ships, which could not immediately 
work up to their best speed; but they suffered heavily in passing, 
and the Infanta Maria Teresa and the Oquendo were probably set 
on fire by shells fired during the first fifteen minutes of the engage- 
ment. It was afterward learned that the Infanta Maria Teresa's fire- 
main had been cut by one of our first shots, and that she was unable 
to extinguish fire. 

With large volumes of smoke rising from their lower decks aft, 
these vessels gave up both fight and flight and ran in on the beach — 
the Infanta Maria Teresa at about fifteen minutes past ten a. m., at 
Nima Nima, six and one-half miles from Santiago Harbor entrance, 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. * 709 

and the Almirante Oquendo at about half past ten a. m , at Juan 
Gonzales, seven miles from the port. 

9. The Vizcaya was still under the fire of the leading vessels. The 
Cristobal Colon had drawn ahead, leading the chase, and soon passed 
beyond the range of the guns of the leading American ships. The 
Vizcaya was soon set on fire, and at fifteen minutes after eleven she 
turned in shore and was beached at Aserraderos, fifteen miles from 
Santiago, burning fiercely, and with her reserves of ammunition on 
deck already beginning to explode. 

When about ten miles west of Santiago the Indiana had been sig- 
nalled to go back to the harbor entrance, and at Aserraderos the Iowa 
was signalled to resume blockading station. The Iowa, assisted by 
the Ericsson and the Hist, took off the crew of the Vizcaya, while the 
Harvard and the Gloucester rescued those of the Infanta Maria Teresa 
and the Almirante Oquendo. 

Brave Rescue of Prisoners. 

This rescue of prisoners, including the wounded, from the burning 
Spanish vessels was the occasion of some of the most daring and gal- 
lant conduct of the day. The ships were burning fore and aft, their 
guns and reserve ammunition were exploding, and it was not known 
at what moment the fire would reach the main magazines. In addi- 
tion to this a heavy surf was running just inside of the Spanish ships. 
But no risk deterred our officers and men until their work of humanity 
was complete. 

10. There remained now of the Spanish ships only the Cristobal 
Colan — but she was their best and fastest vessel. Forced by the situ- 
ation to hug the Cuban coast, her only chance of escape was by 
superior and sustained speed. When the Vizcaya went ashore the 
Colon was about six miles ahead of the Brooklyn and the Oregon ; 
but her spurt was finished, and the American ships were now gaining 
upon her. 

Behind the Brooklyn and the Oregon came the Texas, Vixen and 
New York. It was evident from the bridge of the New York that all 
the American ships were gradually overhauling the chase, and that 



710* LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

she had no chance of escape. At ten minutes to one the Brooklyn 
and the Oregon opened fire and got her range — the Oregon's heavy- 
shell striking beyond her — and at twenty minutes after one she gave 
up without firing another shot, hauled down her colors, and ran ashore 
at Rio Torquino, forty-eight miles from Santiago. 

Enemy's Last Ship Lost. 

Captain Cook, of the Brooklyn, went on board to receive the sur- 
render. While his boat was along side I came up in the New York, 
received his report, and placed the Oregon in charge of the wreck 
to save her, if possible ; and directed the prisoners to be transferred 
to the Resolute, which had followed the chase. 

Commodore Schley, whose chief of staff had gone on board to 
receive the surrender, had directed that all their personal effects 
should be retained by the officers. This order I did not modify. 

The Cristobal Colon was not injured by our firing, and probably 
is not much injured by beaching, though she ran ashore at high 
speed. The beach was so steep that she came off by the working of 
the sea. But her sea valves were opened and broken, treacherously, 
I am sure, after her surrender, and, despite all efforts, she sank. 

When it became evident that she could not be kept afloat, she was 
pushed by the New York bodily up on the beach — the New York's 
stem being placed against her for this purpose, the ship being 
handled by Captain Chadwick with admirable judgment — and sank 
in shoal water and may be saved. Had this not been done she 
would have gone down in deep water, and would have been, to a 
certainty, a total loss. 

11. I regard this complete and important victory over the Spanish 
forces as the successful finish of several weeks of arduous and close 
blockade, so stringent and effective during the night that the enemy 
was deterred from making the attempt to escape at night, and de- 
liberately elected to make the attempt in daylight. That this was 
the case I was informed by the commanding officer of the Cristobal 
Colon. 

12. It seems proper to briefly describe here the manner in which 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. * 711 

this was accomplished. The harbor of Santiago is naturally easy to 
blockade — there being but one entrance, and that a narrow one, and 
the deep water extending close up to the shore line, presenting no 
difficulties of navigation outside of the entrance. 

Method of the Blockade. 

At the time of my arrival before the port — June I — the moon was 
at its full, and there was sufficient light during the night to enable 
any movement outside of the entrance to be detected ; but with the 
waning of the moon and the coming of dark nights there was op- 
portunity for the enemy to escape, or for his torpedo boats to make 
an attack upon the blockading vessels. 

It was ascertained with fair conclusiveness that the Merrimac, so 
gallantly taken into the channel on June 3d, did not obstruct it. I 
therefore maintained the blockade as follows : To the battleships was 
assigned the duty, in turn, of lighting the channel. Moving up to 
the port, at a distance of from one to two miles from the Morro, de- 
pendent upon the condition of the atmosphere, they threw a search- 
light beam directly up the channel, and held it steadily there. This 
lightened up the entire breadth of the channel for half a mile inside 
of the entrance so brilliantly that the movement of small boats could 
be detected. Why the batteries never opened fire upon the search- 
light ship was always a matter of surprise to me, but they never did. 

Stationed close to the entrance of the port were three picket 
launches, and at a little distance farther out three small picket vessels, 
usually converted yachts, and when they were available one or two 
of our torpedo boats. With this arrangement there was at least a 
certainty that nothing could get out of the harbor undetected. 

After the arrival of the army, when the situation forced upon the 
Spanish admiral a decision, our vigilance increased. The night block- 
ading distance was reduced to two miles for all vessels, and a battle- 
ship was placed alongside the searchlight ship, with her broadside 
trained upon the channel in readiness to fire the instant a Spanish 
ship should appear. 

The commanding officers merit the greatest praise for the perfect 



712* LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

manner in which they entered into this plan and put it into execution. 
The Massachusetts, which, according to routine, was sent that morn- 
ing to coal at Guantanamo, like the others had spent weary nights 
upon this work, and deserved a better fate than to be absent that 
morning. 

I enclose, for the information of the department, copies of orders 
and memoranda issued from time to time relating to the manner of 
maintaining the blockade. 

All Did Good Work. 

1 3. When all the work was done so well it is difficult to discriminate 
in praise. The object of the blockade of Cervera's squadron was 
fully accomplished, and each individual bore well his part in it — the 
commodore in command of the second division, the captains of ships, 
their officers and men. The fire of the battleships was powerful and 
destructive, and the resistance of the Spanish squadron was in great 
part broken almost before they had got beyond the range of their 
own forts. 

The fine speed of the Oregon enabled her to take a front position 
in the chase, and the Cristobal Colon did not give up until the Ore- 
gon had thrown a 13-inch shell beyond her. This performance adds 
to the already brilliant record of this fine battleship, and speaks 
highly of the skill and care with which her admirable efficiency has 
bjen maintained during a service unprecedented in the history of 
vessels of her class. 

The Brooklyn's westerly blockading position gave her an advan- 
tage in the chase, which she maintained to the end, and she em- 
ployed her fine battery with telling effect. The Texas and the New 
York were gaining on the chase during the last hour, and had any 
accident befallen the Brooklyn or the Oregon would have speedily 
overhauled the Cristobal Colon. 

From the moment the Spanish vessel exhausted her first burst of 
speed the result was never in doubt. She fell, in fact, far below what 
might reasonably have been expected of her. Careful measurements 
of time and distance give her an average speed from the time she 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. * 713 

cleared the harboi mouth until the time she was run on shore at Rio 
Tarquino of 13.7 knots. 

Lost No Time in Starting. 
Neither the New York nor the Brooklyn stopped to couple up her 
forward engines, but ran out the chase with one pair, getting steam, 
of course, as rapidly as possible on all boilers. To stop to couple 
up the forward engines would have meant a delay of fifteen minutes, 
or four miles, in the chase. 

14. Several of the ships were struck, the Brooklyn more often 
than the others, but very slight material injury was done, the great- 
est being aboard the Iowa. Our loss was one man killed and one 
wounded, both on the Brooklyn. 

It is difficult to explain this immunity from loss of life or injury to 
ships in a combat with modern vessels of the best type ; but Spanish 
gunnery is poor at the best, and the superior weight and accuracy of 
our fire speedily drove the men from their guns and silenced their 
fire. This is borne out by the statements of prisoners. 

The Spanish vessels, as they dashed out of the harbor, were cov- 
ered with the smoke from their own guns, but this speedily dimin- 
ished in volume and soon almost disappeared. The fire from the 
rapid-fire batteries of the battleships appears to have been remarka- 
bly destructive. An examination of the stranded vessels shows that 
the Almirante Oquendo especially had suffered terribly from this fire. 
Her sides are everywhere pierced and her decks were strewn with 
the charred remains of those who had fallen. 

15. The reports of Commodore W. S. Schley and of the com- 
manding officers are enclosed. 

16. A board appointed by me several days ago has made a critical 
examination of the stranded vessels, both with a view of reporting 
upon the result of our fire and the military features involved, and of 
reporting upon the chance of saving any of them and of wrecking the 
remainder. The report of the Board will be speedily forwarded. 

Very respectfully, W. T. Sampson, 

Rear Admiral, U. S. N. ; Commander in Chief U. S. Naval Force. North Atlantic Siation. 
The Secretary of the Navy, Navy Department, Washington, D. C. 



714* LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 



Commodore Schley's Report to Admiral Sampson. 

North Atlantic Fleet, Second Squadron, ^ 

U. S. Flagship Brooklyn, V 

Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, July 6, 189S. J 
Sir : — I have the honor to make the following report of that part 
of the squadron under your command which came under my obser- 
vation during the engagement with the Spanish fleet on July 3, 1898 : 

2. At 9.35 a.m. Admiral Cervera, with the Infanta Maria Teresa, 
Vizcaya, Oquendo, Cristobal Colon and two torpedo-boat destroyers 
came out of the harbor of Santiago de Cuba in column at distance 
and attempted to escape to the westward. Signal was made from the 
Iowa that the enemy was coming out, but his movement had been 
discovered from this ship at the same moment. 

This vessel was the furthest west, except the Vixen, in the block- 
ading line : signal was made to the western division as prescribed in 
your General Orders, and there was immediate and rapid movement 
inward by your squadron and a general engagement, at ranges be- 
ginning at eleven hundred yards and varying to three thousand, until 
the Vizcaya was destroyed, about 10.50 a.m. The concentration of 
the fire of the squadron upon the ships coming out was most furious 
and terrific, and great damage was done them. 

Beginning the Destruction. 

3. About twenty or twenty-five minutes after the engagement 
began, two vessels, thought to be the Teresa and Oquendo, and since 
verified as such, took fire from the effective shell fire of the squadron, 
and were forced to run on the beach, some six or seven miles west of 
the harbor entrance, where they burned and blew up later. The 
torpedo-boat destroyers were destroyed e.irly in the action, but the 
smoke was so dense in their direction that I cannot say to which 
vessel or vessels the credit belongs. This, doubtless, was better seen 
from your flagship. 

4. The Vizcaya and Colon, perceiving the disaster to their con- 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. * 715 

sorts, continued at full speed to the westward to escape, and were 
followed and engaged in a running fight with the Brooklyn, Texas 
Iowa and Oregon until ten minutes of eleven, when the Vizcaya took 
fire from our shells. She put her helm to port, and with a heavy 
list to port, stood in shore and ran aground at Aserraderos, about 
twenty one miles west of Santiago, on fire fore and aft, and where she 
blew up during the night. Observing that she had struck her colors, 
and that several vessels were ncaring her to capture and save her 
crew, signal was made to cease firing. 

The Oregon, having proved vastly faster than the other battle- 
ships, she and the Brooklyn, together with the Texas and another 
vessel, which proved to be your flagship, continued westward in 
pursuit of the Colon, which had run close in shore, evidently seeking 
some good spot to beach, if she should fail to elude her pursuers. 

End of the Chase. 

5. This pursuit continued with increasing speed in the Brooklyn, 
Oregon and other ships, and soon the Brooklyn and the Oregon 
were within long range of the Colon, when the Oregon opened fire 
with her thirteen-inch guns, landing a shell close to the Colon. A 
moment afterwards the Brooklyn opened fire with her eight-inch 
guns, landing a shell just ahead of her. Several other shells were 
fired at the Colon, now in range of the Brooklyn's and Oregon's 
guns. 

Her commander, seeing all chances of escape cut off, and destruc- 
tion awaiting his ship, fired a lee gun and struck her flag at a quarter 
past one p.m., and ran ashore at a point some fifty miles west of San- 
tiago Harbor. Your flagship was coming up rapidly at the time, as 
were also the Texas and Vixen. A little later, after your arrival, 
the Cristobal Colon, which had stuck to the Brooklyn and the 
Oregon, was turned over to you as one of the trophies of this great 
victory of the squadron under your command. 

6. During my official visit, a little later, Commander Eaton, of the 
Resolute, appeared, and reported to you the presence of a Spanish 
battleship near Altares. Your orders to me were to take the Oregon 



716* LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

and go eastward to meet her, and this was done by the Brooklyn, 
with the result that the vessel reported as an enemy was discovered 
to be the Austrian cruiser Infanta Maria Teresa, seeking the com- 
mander-in-chief. 

7. I would mention for your consideration that the Brooklyn occu- 
pied the most westward blockading position with the Vixen, and, 
being more directly in the route taken by the Spanish squadron, was 
exposed for some minutes, possibly ten, to the gun fire of three of 
the Spanish ships and the west battery at a range of fifteen hundred 
yards from the ships, and about three thousand yards from the bat- 
teries, but the vessels of the entire squadron, closing in rapidly, soon 
diverted this fire and did magnificent work at close range. 

Deadly Shots from Our Fleet. 

I have never before witnessed such deadly and fatally accurate 
shooting as was done by the ships of your command as they closed 
in on the Spanish squadron, and I deem it a high privilege to com- 
mend to you for such action as you may deem proper, the gallantry 
and dishing courage, the prompt decision and the skillful handling 
of their respective vessels, of Captain Philip, Captain Evans, Captain 
Clark, and especially of my chief of staff, Captain Cook, who was 
directly under my personal observation, and whose coolness, prompt- 
ness and courage were of the highest order. 

The dense smoke of the combat shut out from my view the Indiana 
and the Gloucester, but as these vessels were closer to your flagship, 
no doubt their part in. the conflict w s under your immediate obser- 
vation. 

8. Lieutenant Sharp, commanding the Vixen, acted with conspicu- 
ous courage ; although unable to engage the heavier ships of the 
enemy with his light guns, nevertheless was close in to the battle 
line under heavy fire, and many of the enemy's shot passed beyond 
his vessel. 

9. I beg to invite special attention to the conduct of my flag lieu- 
tenant, James H. Sears, and Ensign Edward McCauley, Jr., aid, who 
were constantly at my side during the engagement, and who exposed 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. * 717 

themselves fearlessly in discharging their duties; and also to the 
splendid behaviour of my secretary, Lieutenant B. W. Wells, Jr., 
who commanded and directed the fighting of the Fourth division 
with splendid effect. 

10. I would commend the highly meritorious conduct and courage 
in the engagement of Lieutenant Commander N. E. Mason, the exe- 
cutive officer, whose presence everywhere over the ship during its 
continuance did much to secure the good result of this ship's part in 
the victory. 

ii. The navigator, Lieutenant A. C. Hodgson, and the division 
officers, Lieutenant T. D. Griffin, Lieutenant W. R. Rush, Lieuten- 
ant Edward Simpson, Lieutenant J. G. Doyle, Ensign Charles Web- 
ster, and the junior divisional officers were most steady and conspi- 
cuous in every detail of duty contributing to the accurate firing of 
this ship in her part of the great victory of your forces. 

Brave and Competent Officers. 

12. The officers of the Medical, Pay and Engineer and Marine 
Corps responded to every demand of the occasion, and were fearless 
in exposing themselves. The warrant officers, Boatswain William 
L. Hill, Carpenter G. H. Warford and Gunner F. T. Applegate, were 
everywhere exposed in watching for damage, reports of which were 
promptly conveyed to me. 

13. I have never in my life served with a braver, better or worthier 
crew than that of the Brooklyn. During the combat, lasting from 
thirty-five minutes past nine until fifteen minutes past one, much of 
the time under fire, they never flagged for a moment, and were 
apparently undisturbed by the storm of projectiles passing ahead, 
astern and over the ship. 

14. The result of the engagement was the destruction of the Span- 
ish squadron and the capture of the Admiral and some thirteen hun- 
hundred to fifteen hundred prisoners, with the loss of several hundred 
killed, estimated by Admiral Cervera at six hundred men. 

15. The casualties on board this ship were G. H. Ellis, chief yeo- 
man, killed ; J. Burns, fireman first class, severely wounded. The 



718* LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

marks and scars show that the ship was struck about twenty-five 
times, and she bears in all forty-one scars as the result of her partici- 
pation in the great victory of your force on July 3, 1898. The speed 
cone halliards were shot away, and nearly all the signal halliards. 
The ensign at the main was so shattered that in hauling it down at 
the close of the action it fell in pieces. 

16. I congratulate you most sincerely upon this great victory to 
the squadron under your command, and I am glad that I had an 
opportunity to contribute in the least to a victory that seems big 
enough for all of us. 

17. I have the honor to transmit herewith the report of the com- 
manding officer, and a drawing in profile of the ship, showing the 
location of hits and scars ; also a memorandum of the ammunition 
expended and the amount to fill her allowance. 

Planned to Ram the Brooklyn. 

18. Since reaching this place and holding conversation with several 
of the captains — viz. : Captain Eulate, of the Vizcaya, and the second 
in command of the Colon, Commander Contreras. I have learned 
that the Spanish admiral's scheme was to concentrate all fire for a 
while on the Brooklyn, and the Vizcaya to ram her, in hope that if 
they could destroy her the chance of escape would be increased, as 
it was supposed she was the swiftest ship of your squadron. 

This explains the heavy fire mentioned and the Vizcaya's action in 
the earlier moments of the engagement. The execution of this pur- 
pose was promptly defeated by the fact that all the ships of the squad- 
ron advanced into close range and opened a terrific fire upon the 
enemy's squadron as it was coming out of the harbor. 

21. I cannot close this report without mentioning in high terms of 
praise the splendid conduct and support of Captain C. E. Clark, of 
the Oregon. Her speed was wonderful and her accurate fire splen- 
didly destructive. Very respectfully, 




Commodore United States Navy, Commanding Second Squadron, North Atlantic Fleet. 
To the Commander-in-Chief, United States Naval Force, North Atlantic Station, 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. *719 

CAPTAINS TELL OF OUR NAVAL VICTORY. 

The following are the reports of Captain Chadvvick, of the New 
York; Captain Taylor, of the Indiana; Captain Philip, of the Texas; 
Lieutenant- Commander Wainwright, of the Gloucester; Captain 
Clark, of the Oregon ; and Captain Evans, of the Iowa, on the de- 
struction of Cervera's fleet, which were included in Admiral Samp- 
son's report. 

Captain Chadwick's report was as follows : The ship had started 
at 9.30 A. m. for the army landing at Siboney, the commander-in-chief 
having an appointment with the general commanding the army. A 
few minutes after the crew had been called to quarters for Sunday 
inspection, firing was heard, and a ship was seen leaving the harbor 
entrance. The helm was at once put over, the crew called to general 
quarters, signal " Close in towards the harbor entrance and attack 
vessels " made, orders given to spread all fires, and the ship headed 
back for the enemy, whose ships were seen successively coming out 
at a high speed. 

The Flagship on Fire. 

The nearer ships had immediately engaged, and by the time we 
were off the entrance one, the flagship, was already afire, and was 
soon ashore; the Indiana and Gloucester were actively engaged with 
the torpedo boats. This ship fired some 4-inch shells at the one 
nearer the port, towards which she was already headed, and seemed 
attempting to return; but she was already practically out of the fight, 
the boiler of the more advanced one having blown up, showing a 
vast column of condensed steam. During this time the batteries, 
whose line of fire we had crossed close to, repeatedly fired upon us, 
but without effect. This ship stood on, leaving the Gloucester, which 
had shown herself so capable, to look after the survivors in the tor- 
pedo-boats. 

By this time a second cruiser was ashore and burning (the Almi- 
rante Oquendo), while the third, the Vizcaya, and the Cristobal 
Colon were still steaming rapidlv westward. The Indiana was now 



720* LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

signaled (i 1.26 A. m.) to return to her blockading position, to look 
after anything which might be there. Very shortly the Vizcaya 
turned shoreward, smoke began to issue from her after part, and, by 
the time that she was ashore on the reef at Acerraderos (fifteen miles 
west of Santiago), she was ablaze. The Iowa had signaled a little 
before that she had surrendered, and stopped off this place, wher^ 
she gave much assistance in the rescue of the Vizcaya's people. 

This ship stood on in chase of the Cristobal Colon, with ahead of 
us the Brooklyn, Oregon, Texas and Vixen, the Oregon being much 
nearer inshore of the two headmost ships, but not in gunshot. We 
were rapidly increasing our speed. 

Spanish Ship Struck Her Colors. 

About 12.50 the Oregon opened fire, and some of her shells were 
observed to strike beyond the Colon ; this made her capture a fore- 
gone conclusion, and shortly after 1 o'clock she turned in towards 
shore and soon struck her colors. She had been beached at a small 
inlet known as Rio Torquino. By the time we arrived a boat was 
alongside of her from the Brooklyn, and Captain Cook, the boarding 
officer, came alongside this and reported. This ship then sent a boat 
to take possession, the commanding officer going in the boat. I was 
received by the commodore of the squadron, the captain, Captain De 
Navio Don Emilo Moreu, and Captain De Navio, of the first-class 
Don Jose de Paredes y Chacon (which latter had been civil governor 
cf Santiago and had only just been attached to the squadron). 

I arranged for the transfer of the crew and officers, a division to 
each ship present, and the engineer force to be left aboard. While 
aboard, however, the Resolute arrived, and it was arranged to transfer 
the whole number to her. 

Though the ship was not able to come to action with any of the 
larger ships on account of her distance to the eastward, every nerve 
was strained to do so, and all was done that could be done; our speed 
had rapidly increased, so that we were going sixteen knots at the end. 
We were immediately astern while all others were considerably to 
seaward. We were thus in a position *:o prevent a possible doubling 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA *721 

to the rear and escape to the southeast. The officers and crew, as 
they always have done, acted in the most enthusiastic and commend- 
able manner. 

The Indiana's Part. 

Captain H. C. Taylor, commanding the United States steamship 
Indiana, first rate, reported as follows : 

The Spanish squadron was seen emerging from the harbor at 9.37, 
and in a few moments a general action ensued. The leading ship, 
which proved to be the Infanta Teresa, flying the flag of Vice Ad- 
miral Cervera, was followed by the other vessels of the squadron as 
follows : Vizcaya, Cristobal Colon, Oquendo and the torpedo-boat 
destroyers Furor and Pluton. The enemy's vessels headed to the 
westward. This ship fired on all of them as they came out one by 
one, and continued the action later by firing principally on the Maria 
Teresa, Oquendo, Furor and Pluton. Several of our shells were seen 
to take effect on these vessels. 

Our secondary battery guns were directed principally on the de- 
stroyers, as also were the " 6 " guns. The destroyers were sunk 
through the agency of our guns and those of the Gloucester, which 
vessel had come up and engaged them close aboard. The initial fire 
of the last two ships was directed at this vessel, and although falling 
very close, only striking the ship twice without any injury to ship or 
crew. One of our "13" shells was seen to enter the Maria Teresa 
under the quarter deck and explode, and that ship was observed on 
fire very shortly afterwards. 

About 10.15 a.m. observed the Maria Teresa and Oquendo on fire 
and heading for the beach, the fire from their guns having ceased. 
We then devoted our special attention to prevent the escape of the 
destroyers, which appeared more than a match for the Gloucester, 
she being the only small vessel near to engage them. They were 
soon seen to blow up, apparently struck by our "6" and 6-pounders. 
We now fired our large guns at the Vizcaya, which was at long range ; 
she made for the shore soon after, on fire and battery silenced. These 
ships hauled down their colors as they made for the beach. Th*» 
,Spanish flag-ship hoisted the white flag as she grounded. 
46 -d 



722* LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

We now ceased firing. The Colon was observed well over the 
western horizon, closely pursued by the Brooklyn, Oregon and Texas, 
offshore of her. The flagship New York, steaming full speed to the 
westward as soon as the Vizcaya surrendered, signaled us, " Go back 
and guard entrance of harbor." Several explosions were observed on 
board the burning ships. At noon turned and stood to the eastward 
for our station in obedience to the above signal. Observed the Har- 
vard and several transports standing to the westward. During this 
action we used no armor-piercing shells, except the smokeless pow- 
der 6-pounders, and the good effect of the common shell is shown by 
the fires on the enemy's ships and the short time taken to disable 
them without piercing their armor and with almost no injury to our 
ships. 

Captain Taylor commended all his officers and crew, and especially 
Lieutenant-Commander John A. Rodgers, the executive officer. 

What the Texas Did. 

Captain J. W. Philip, commanding the United States battleship 
Texas, the sister ship to the Maine, destroyed in Havana harbor, 
reported to Admiral Sampson as follows : 

Just at 9.35 as general signal No. 250 was made the Texas, which 
was lying 5,100 yards distant from Morro, the enemy's ships were 
sighted standing out of the harbor. As the leader bearing the admi- 
ral's flag appeared in the entrance she opened fire, which was at 9.40 
returned by the Texas at range of 4,200 yards, while closing in. The 
ship leading was of the Vizcaya class and the flagship. Four ships 
came out, evidently the Vizcaya, the Oquendo, Maria Teresa and 
Colon, followed by two torpedo-boat destroyers. 

Upon seeing these two we immediately opened fire upon them with 
our secondary battery, the main battery at the time being engaged 
with the second and third ships in line; owing to our secondary bat- 
tery, together with the Iowa and Gloucester, these two destroyers 
were forced to beach, and sunk. 

While warmly engaged with the third in line, which was abreast 
and engaging the Texas, our fire was blanketed for a short time by 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. *723 

the Oregon forging ahead and engaging the second ship. This third 
ship, after a spirited fire, sheered in shore, and at 10.35 ran up 1 
white flag. We then ceased fire on the third, and opened fire with 
our forward guns at long range (6,000 yards) on the ship (which was 
then engaged with the Oregon) until 11.05, when she (enemy's 
second ship) sheered into the beach on fire. 

At 1 1. 10 she struck her colors, we ceased fire, and gave chase witl; 
Brooklyn and Oregon for the leading ship unti.' 1.20, when the Color 
sheered into the beach and hauled down her colors, leaving them on 
deck at the foot of her flagstaff. We shut off forced draught and 
proceeded at moderate speed to close up. I would state that during 
this chase the Texas was holding her own with the Colon, she lead- 
ing us about four miles at the start. 

Captain Philip concluded with expressing the approval of the bear- 
ing and performance of duty of all his officers. 

The Gloucester's Plucky Fight. 

Lieutenant Commander Richard Wainwright, formerly of the 
Maine when that ship was destroyed in Havana harbor, and who 
commanded the Gloucester, the converted yacht, in the plucky fight 
wi. f h Cervera's two torpedo-boat destroyers, reported as follows : 

it was the plain duty of the Gloucester to look after the de« 
itroyers, and she was held back, gaining steam, until they appeared 
at the entrance. The Indiana poured in a hot fire from all her 
secondary battery upon the destroyers, but Captain Taylor's signal, 
" Gunboats close in," gave security that we would not be fired upon 
by our own ships. The escape of the Gloucester was due mainly to 
the accuracy and rapidity of the fire. The efficiency of this fire, as 
well as that of the ship generally, was largely due to the intelligent 
and unremitting efforts of the executive officer, Lieutenant Harry P. 

Huse. 

The result is more to his credit when it is remembered that a 
large proportion of the officers and men were untrained when the 
Gloucester was commissioned. Throughout the action he was on 
the. bridge and carried out my orders with great coolness. That we 



724* LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

were able to close in with the destroyers — and until we did so tney 
were not seriously injured — was largely due to the skill and constant 
attention of Passed Assistant Engineer, George W. McElroy. The 
blowers were put on and the speed increased to seventeen knots 
without causing a tube to leak or a brass to heat. Lieutenant 
Thomas C. Wood, Lieutenant George H. Norman, Jr., and Ensign 
John T. Edson, not only controlled the fire of the guns in their divi- 
sions and prevented the waste of ammunition, but they also did 
some excellent shooting themselves. 

Acting Assistant Surgeon J. F. Bransford took charge of one of 
the guns and fired it himself occasionally. Acting Assistant Paymas- 
ter Alexander Brown had charge of the two Colt guns, firing one 
himself, and they did excellent work. Assistant Engineer A. M. 
Proctor carried my orders from the bridge and occasionally fired a 
gun, when I found it was not being served quite satisfactorily. All 
were cool and active at a time when they could have had but little 
hope of escaping uninjured. 

Lieutenants Wood and Norman, Ensign Edson and Assistant 
Engineer Proctor were in charge of the boats engaged in saving life. 
They all risked their lives repeatedly in boarding and remaining neal 
the two destroyers and the two armored cruisers when their guns 
were being discharged by the heat and their magazines and boilers 
were exploding. They also showed great skill in landing and taking 
off the prisoners through the surf. 

The wounded and exhausted prisoners were well and skillfully 
tended by Assistant Surgeon Bransford, assisted by Ensign Edson, 
who is also a surgeon. The admiral, his officers and men were 
treated with all consideration and care possible. They were fed and 
clothed as far as our limited means would permit. 

Part the Oregon Took. 

Captain Clark, of the famous Oregon, reported as follows : 

I have the honor to report that at 9.30 A. m. yesterday the Spanish 

flee' was discovered standing out of the harbor of Santiago de Cuba. 

They turned to the westward and opened fire, to which our ships 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. *725 

replied vigorously. For a short time there was an almost continuous 
flight of projectiles over this ship, but when our line was fairly 
engaged, and the Iowa had made a swift advance as if to ram or 
close, the enemy's fire became defective in train as well as range. 
The ship was only struck three times, and at least two of them were 
by fragments of shells. We had no casualties. 

As soon as it was evident that the enemy's ships were trying to 
break through and escape to the westward we went ahead at full 
speed with the determination of carrying out to the utmost your 
order : " If the enemy tries to escape the ships must close and engage 
as soon as possible and endeavor to sink his vessels or force them to 
run ashore." We soon passed all our ships, except the Brooklyn, 
bearing the broad pennant of Commodore Schley. At first we only 
used our main battery, but when it was discovered that the enemy's 
torpedo boats were following their ships we used our rapid-fire guns 
as well as the six upon them with telling effect. 

Driven Headlong on the Beach. 

As we ranged up near the sternmost of their ships she headed for 
the beach, evidently on fire. We raked her as we passed, pushing on 
for the next ahead, using our starboard guns as they were brought to 
bear, and before we had her fairly abeam she, too, was making for 
the beach. The two remaining vessels were now some distance 
ahead, but our speed had increased to sixteen knots, and our fire, 
added to that of the Brooklyn, soon sent another, the Vizcaya, to 
the shore in flames. 

Only the Cristobal Colon was left, and for a time it seemed as if 
she might escape, but when we opened with our forward turret guns 
and the Brooklyn followed she began to edge in towards the coast 
and her capture or destruction was assured. As she struck the 
beach her flag came down and the Brooklyn signaled " cease firing," 
following it with " congratulations for the grand victory ; thanks for 
your splendid assistance." 

The Brooklyn sent a boat to her, and when the admiral came up 
with the New York and Texas and Vixen she was taken possession 



726* LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

of. A prize crew was put on board from this ship under Lieutenant 
Commander Cogswell, the executive officer, but before 1 1 p. m. the 
ship, which had been filling in spite of all efforts to stop leaks, was 
abandoned, and just as the crew left her she went over on her side. 

I cannot speak in too high terms of the bearing and conduct of all 
on board this ship. When they found the Oregon had pushed to the 
front and was hurrying to a succession of conflicts with the enemy's 
vessels if they could be overtaken and would engage, their enthusiasm 
was intense. 

As these vessels were so much more heavily armored than the 
Brooklyn, they might have concentrated upon and overpowered her, 
and consequently I am persuaded that but for the way the officers 
and men of the Oregon steamed and steered the ship and fought and 
supplied her batteries, the Colon and perhaps the Vizcaya would 
have escaped. Therefore I feel that they rendered meritorious ser- 
vice to the country, and while I cannot mention the name of each 
officer and man individually, I am going to append a list of the officers, 
with their stations that they occupied^ hoping that they may be of 
service to them should the claims of others for advancement above 
them ever be considered. 

The Iowa Fired the First Shot. 

Captain Evans' official statement of his ship's work in the destruc- 
tion of Cervera's fleet, was as follows : 

I have the honor to make the following report of the engagement 
with the Spanish squadron off Santiago de Cuba on the 3d of July. 

On the morning of the 3d, while the crew was at quarters for Sun- 
day inspection, the leading vessel of the Spanish squadron was sighted 
at 9.30 coming out of the harbor of Santiago de Cuba. Signal 
"Enemy's ships coming out" was immediately hoisted and a gun 
fired to attract attention. The call to general quarters was sounded 
immediately, the battery made ready for firing, and the engines rung 
full speed ahead. 

The position of this vessel at the time of sighting the squadron was 
the usual blockading station off the entrance of the harbor, Morro 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. *727 

Castle bearing about north and distant about three to four miles 
The steam at this time in the boilers was sufficient for a speed of five 
knots. 

After sighting the leading vessel, the Infanta Maria Teresa, Ad- 
miral Cervera's flagship, it was observed that she was followed in 
succession by the remaining three vessels of the Spanish squadron, 
the Vizcaya, Cristobal Colon and Almirante Oquendo. The Spanish 
ships moved at a speed of about eight to ten knots, which was 
steadily increased as they cleared the harbor entrance and stood to 
the westward. They maintained a distance of about 800 yards 
between vessels. The squadron moved with precision, and stations 
were well kept. 

Immediately upon sighting the leading vessel fires were spread 
and the Iowa headed toward the leading Spanish ship. About 9.40 
the first shot was fired from this ship at a distance of about 6,000 
yards. The course of this vessel was so laid that the range speedily 
diminished. A number of shots were fired at ranges varying between 
6,000 and 4,000 yards. The range was rapidly reduced to 2,500 
yards and subsequently to 2,000 and to 1,200 yards. 

Heavy Broadsides From the Iowa. 

When it was certain that the Maria Teresa would pass ahead of us, 
the helm was put to starboard, and the starboard broadside delivered 
at a range of 2 500 yards. The helm was then put to port, and the 
ship headed across the bow of the second ship, and as she drew ahead 
the helm was again put to starboard, and she received in turn the 
full weight of our starboard broadside at a range of about 1,800 
yards. The Iowa was again headed off with port helm for the third 
ship, and as she approached the helm was put to starboard until our 
course was approximately that of the Spanish ship. In this position, 
at a range of 1,400 yards, the fire of the entire battery, including 
rapid-fire guns, was poured into the enemy's ship. 

About 10 o'clock the enemy's torpedo-boat destroyers Furor and 
Pluton were observed to have left the harbor, and to be following 
the Spanish squadron. At the time they were observed, and in fact 



728* LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

most of the ti'me that they were under fire, they were at a distance 
varying from 4 500 and 4,000 yards. As soon as they were discov- 
ered the secondary battery of the ship was turned upon them, while 
the main battery continued to engage the Vizcaya, Oquendo and 
Maria Teresa. 

The fire of the main battery of the ship, when the range was below 
2,500 yards, was most effective and destructive, and, after a continu- 
ance of this fire for perhaps twenty minutes, it was noticed that the 
Maria Teresa and Oquendo were in flames, and were being headed 
for the beach. Their colors were struck about 10.20, and they were 
beached about eight miles west of Santiago. About the same time 
(about 10.25) tl ie fi re of this vessel, together with that of the Glouces* 
ter and another smaller vessel, proved so destructive that one of the 
torpedo-boat destroyers (Pluton) was sunk, and the Furor was so 
much damaged that she was run upon the rocks. 

Rescuing Defeated Spaniards. 

After having passed, at IO.35, the Oquendo and Maria Teresa, on 
fire and ashore, this vessel continued to chase and fire upon the Viz- 
caya until 10.36, when signal to cease firing was sounded on board, 
it having been discovered that the Vizcaya had at length struck her 
colors. 

At 1 1 o'clock the Iowa arrived in the vicinity of the Vizcaya, which 
had been run ashore, and it was evident that she could not catch the 
Cristobal Colon and that the Oregon, Brooklyn and New York would, 
two steam cutters and three cutters were immediately hoisted out and 
sent to the Vizcaya to rescue her crew. Our boats succeeded in 
bringing off a large number of officers and men of that ship's com- 
pany, and in placing many of them on board the torpedo boat Ericsson 
and the auxiliary dispatch vessel Hist. 

About 11.30 the New York passed in chase of the Cristobal Colon, 
which was endeavoring to escape from the Oregon, Brooklyn and 
Texas. We received on board this vessel from the Vizcaya Captain 
Eulate, the commanding officer, and twenty-three officers, together 
with about 248 petty officers and men. 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. *729 

The United States military expedition under the command of 
Major General Nelson A. Miles, commanding the Army of the 
United States, which left Guantanamo Bay during the evening ot 
Thursday last, July 21, was landed successfully at Guanica, July 25, 
after a skirmish with a detachment of the Spanish troops and a crew 
of thirty belonging to the launch of the United States auxiliary gun- 
boat Gloucester. Four of the Spaniards were killed and no Amer- 
icans were hurt. 

General Miles' Army Lands in Porto Rico. 

At noon on the 24th, General Miles called for a consultation, 
announcing that he was determined not to go by San Juan Cape, but 
by the Mona Passage instead, land there, surprise the Spaniards and 
deceive their military authorities. The course was then changed and 
the Dixie was sent to warn General Brooke and the transports con- 
veying our troops, which had been ordered to Cape San Juan. 

Early in the morning the Gloucester, in charge of Lieutenant Com- 
mander Wainwright, steamed into Guanica harbor in order to recon- 
noitre the place. With the fleet waiting outside, the gallant little 
fighting yacht Gloucester braved the mines which were supposed to 
be in this harbor and found that there were five fathoms of water 
close in shore. Guanica Bay is a quiet place, surrounded by culti- 
vated lands. In the rear are high mountains, and close to the bearh 
nestles a village of about twenty-one houses. 

The Spaniards were taken completely by surprise. Almost the first 
they knew of the approach of the army of invasion was in the announce- 
ment contained in the firing of a gun from the Gloucester, demanding 
that the Spaniards haul down their flag, which was floating from the 
flagstaff in front of a block-house standing to the east of the village. 

The first couple of three-pounders were fired into the hills right 
and left of the bay, purposely avoiding the town, lest the projectiles 
hurt women or children. The Gloucester then hove to within about 
six hundred yards of the shore and lowered a launch, having on board 
a Colt rapid-fire gun and thirty men, under the command of Lieutenant 
Huse, which was sent ashore without encountering opposition. 



730* LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

Quartermaster Beck thereupon told Yeoman Lacy to haul down 
the Spanish flag, which was done, and they then raised on the flag- 
staff the first United States flag to float over Porto Rican soil. Sud- 
denly about thirty Spaniards opened fire with Mauser rifles on the 
American party. Lieutenant Huse and his men responded with great 
gallantry, the Colt gun doing effective work. Almost immediately 
after the Spaniards fired on the Americans the Gloucester opened fire 
on the enemy with all her 3 and 6-pounders which could be brought 
to bear, shelling the town and also dropping shells into the hills to 
the west of Guanica, where a number of Spanish cavalry were to be 
seen hastening toward the spot where the Americans had landed. 

Built a Fort for Defense. 

Lieutenant Huse then threw up a little fort, which he named Fort 
Wain wright, and laid barbed wire in the street in front of it in order 
to repel the expected cavalry attack. The lieutenant also mounted 
the Colt gun and signaled for 1 enforcements, which were sent irom 
the Gloucester. 

While the Mausers were peppering all round, Lieutenant-Com- 
mander Wainwright called to the Associated Press correspondent, 
and said : " They fired on us after their flag was down and ours was 
up and after I had spared the town for the sake of the women and 
children. The next town I strike I will blow up." 

Presently a few of the Spanish cavalry joined those who were fight- 
ing in the street of Guanica, but the Colt fired to a purpose killing 
our of them. By that time the Gloucester had the range of the town, 
and of the blockhouse, and all her guns were spitting fire, the doctor 
and the paymaster helping to serve the guns. 

Soon afterwards white-coated galloping cavalrymen were seen 
climbing the hills to the westward, and the foot soldiers were scurry- 
ing along the fences from the town. By 9.45, with the exception of 
a few guerrilla shots, the town was won, and the enemy was driven 
out of its neighborhood. The Red Cross nurses on the Lampasas 
and a detachment of regulars were the first to land from the transports. 

After Lieuteuant Huse had captured the place he deployed his small 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. *731 

force into the suburbs. But he was soon reinforced by the regulars, 
who were followed by Company G of the Sixth Illinois, and then by 
other troops in quick succession. All the boats of the men-of-war 
and the transports were used in the work of landing the troops, each 
steam launch towing four or five boats loaded to the rails with 
soldiers. But everything progressed in an orderly manner, and 
according to the plans of General Miles. The latter went ashore 
about noon, after stopping to board the Gloucester and thank Lieu- 
tenant-Commander Wainwright for his gallant action. 

Report from General Miles. 

The War Department at Washington at 1 1.30 posted the following: 

St. Thomas, July 26, 1898, 9.35 p.m. 
Secretary of War, Washington: 

Circumstances were such that I deemed it advisable to take the 
harbor of Guanica first, fifteen miles west of Ponce, which was suc- 
cessfully accomplished between daylight and 1 1 o'clock. Spaniards 
surprised. The Gloucester, Commander Wainwright, first entered 
the harbor; met with slight resistance; fired a kw shots. All the 
transports are now in the harbor, and infantry and artillery rapidly 
going ashore. This is a well-protected harbor. Water sufficiently 
deep for all transports and heavy vessels to anchor within two hun- 
dred yards of the shore. The Spanish flag was lowered and the 
American flag raised at II o'clock to-day. Captain Higginson, with 
his fleet, has rendered able and earnest assistance. Troops in good 
health and best of spirit^. No casualties. 

Miles, Major-General Commanding. 

Coincident with the landing of our troops at Guanica the Spanish 
Government made a move to end the war and secure peace. The 
proposition was formally submitted to the President at 3 o'clock July 
25th, by the French Ambassador, M. Jules Cambon. who had 
received instructions from the foreign office at Paris to deliver to the 
United States Government the tender of peace formulated by the 
Spanish Cabinet. President McKinley and his advisors immediately 
took the proposition into consideration. 



732* LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

Major General Miles made his invasion of Porto Rico a triumphal 
procession. Having landed a force at Guanica, that pushed on 
against some ineffective opposition and took possession of the rail- 
road at Yauco, he sailed to Ponce with the other troops that had ar- 
rived in the meantime. The Dixie first entered the port and secured 
its surrender and General Miles then landed and occupied the town, 
the Spanish garrison withdrawing hastily and the inhabitants wel- 
coming the Americans as deliverers. 

On July 29th, the Navy Department at Washington posted the 

following bulletin: 

" St. Thomas, July 29, U. S. S. Massachusetts, Ponce, ) 
Porto Rico, July 28. j 

" Commander Davis with Dixie, Annapolis, Wasp and Gloucester, 
left Guanica, July 27, to blockade Ponce and capture lighters for 
Un ; ',ed States army. City of Ponce and Playa surrendered to Com- 
mander Davis upon demand. American flag hoisted 6 a. m., 28th. 
Spanish garrison evacuated. Provisional articles of surrender until 
occupation by army : 

" First — Garrison to be allowed to retire. Second — Civil govern- 
ment to remain in force. Third — Police and fire brigade to be main- 
tained without arms. Fourth — Captain of Port not to be made pri- 
soner. 

" Arrived at Ponce from Guanica with Massachusetts and Cincin- 
nati, General Miles, and General Wilson, and transports at 6.40 a. m., 
28th. Commenced landing army in captured sugar lighters. No 
resistance. Troops welcomed by inhabitants, great enthusiasm. 
Captured sixty lighters, twenty sailing vessels and 120 tons of coal, 

Higginson." 

General Miles Reports H is Victory. 
The War Department received the following dispatch from General 
Miles : 

" Port Ponce, Porto Rico, via St. Thomas, July 29. 
"On the 26th Garretson had a spirited engagement on the skir- 
mish line. Our casualties were four wounded, all doing well. The 
Spanish loss was three killed, thirteen wounded. Yauco was occu- 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. *733 

pied yesterday, Henry's division is there to-day. Last evening 
Commander Davis, of the Dixie, moved into this port, followed Ly 
Captain Higginson with his fleet early this morning. General Wilson 
with Ernst brigade now rapidly disembarking. 

"Spanish troops are retreating from the southern part of Porto 
Rico. The populace received the troops and saluted the flag 
with wild enthusiasm. Navy has several prizes, also seventy lighters. 
Railway stock partly destroyed now restored. Telegraph com- 
munication also being restored. Cable instruments destroyed. Have 
sent to Jamaica for others. This is a prosperous and beautiful 
country. The army will soon be in the mountain region ; weather 
delightful ; troops in best of health and spirits ; anticipate no insur- 
mountable obstacles in future. Results thus far have been accom- 
plished without the loss of a single life. 

"Nelson A. Miles, Major General." 

Another dispatch which was received at the War Department 
Washington, read as follows : 

" In the affair of the 26th, Captain Edward J. Gibson, Company A, 
was wounded in left hip. Captain J. H. Prior, Company L, slightly 
wounded in hand. Private James Drummond, Company K, two 
wounds in neck, and Private Benjamin F. Bosbick, Company L, 
slight wound in right arm. All of Sixth Massachusetts. All doing 
well. Th~ Spanish retreat from this place was precipitous, they 
leaving rifles and ammunition in barracks and forty or fifty sick in 
hospital. The people are enjoying a holiday in honor of our arrival. 

" Miles." 

The Sixth Massachusetts and Sixth Illinois went to Porto Rico on 
the Dixie. 

American Flag Welcomed. 

The following general dispatch was also received at Washington : 

Port of Ponce, Island of Torto Rico, July 28, | 
via the Island of St. Thomas, Danish West Indies. J 

"The Port of Ponce surrendered to Commander C. H. Davis, of 

the auxiliary gunboat Dixie, yesterday. There was no resistance^ 

and the Americans were welcomed with enthusiasm. 



734* LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

" Major General Miles arrived here this morning at daylight with 
General Ernst's brigade and General Wilson's division on board 
transports. General Ernst's brigade immediately started for the town 
of Ponce, three miles inland, which capitulated this afternoon. 

" The American troops are pushing towards the mountains and 
will join General Henry with his brigade at Yauco, which has been 
captured by our troops. 

" A fight before the latter place on Thursday last was won by the 
American volunteers. The Spaniards ambushed eight companies of 
the Massachusetts and Illinois regiments, but the enemy was repulsed 
and driven back a mile to a ridge, where the Spanish cavalry charged 
and were routed by our infantry. 

" General Garretson led the fight with the men from Illinois and 
Massachusetts, and the enemy retreated to Yauco, leaving four dead 
on the field and several wounded. None of our men were killed and 
only three were slightly wounded. The wounded are: Captain Gihon 
Barrett, Private James Drummond, Private H. C. Gary. 

" The Porto Ricans are glad the American troops have landed, and 
say they are all Americans and will join our army. The roads are 
good for military purposes. Our troops are healthy and General 
Miles says the campaign will be short and vigorous." 

Proclamation by General Miles. 

General Miles issued the following proclamation : 
" In the prosecution of the war against the Kingdom of Spain by 
the people of the United States, in the cause of liberty, justice and 
humanity, its military forces have come to occupy the island of Porto 
Rico. They come bearing the banners of freedom, inspired by a 
noble purpose, to seek the enemies of our government and of yours, 
and to destroy or capture all in armed resistance. They bring you 
the fostering arms of a free people, whose greatest power is justice 
and humanity to all living within their fold. Hence they release you 
from your former political relations, and it is hoped this will be fol. 
lowed by your cheerful acceptance of the government of the United 
States. 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. *735 

"The chief object of the American military forces will be to over- 
throw the armed authority of Spain and give the people of your beau- 
tiful island the largest measure of liberty consistent with this military 
occupation. They have not come to make war on the people of the 
country, who for centuries have been oppressed, but, on the contrary, 
they bring protection not only to yourselves, but to your property 
promote your prosperity and bestow the immunities and blessings of 
our enlightenment and liberal institutions and government. 

" It is not their purpose to interfere with the existing laws and 
customs, which are wholesome and beneficial to the people, so long 
as they conform to the rules of the military administration, order and 
justice. This is not a war of devastation and desolation, but one to 
give all within the control of the military and naval forces the advan- 
tages and blessings of enlightened civilization." 

Towns Captured by American Troops. 

Without seeing or hearing anything of the enemy the advance 
guard of General Henry's division, which landed at Gnanica on July 
26th, arrived at Ponce on the 29th, taking en route the cities of 
Yauco, Tallaboa, Sabana Grande and Ponuelas. Attempts by the 
Spaniards to blow up bridges aud otherwise destroy the railroad be- 
tween Yauco and Ponce failed, only a few flat cars being burned. 
Our troops fired up the locomotives, and began operating the road 
from end to end, carrying supplies, messages and men. 

At Yauco the Americans were welcomed in an address made by the 
Alcalde, and a public proclamation was issued, dated, " Yauco, Porto 
Rico, United States of America, July 27." Major Webb Hayes, of 
the Sixth Ohio, son of former President Hayes, hauled up the flag on 
the palace amid cheers from the populace. The people seemed really 
glad that the Americans had arrived ; but they feared an uprising of 
the natives in the interior, who, it was asserted, would rob, kill, and 
destroy property in revenge for many years of Spanish misrule. 

General Miles was in constant command of all his forces, and kept 
the artillery steadily in advance. He acted throughout with a 
promptness that promised success. 



736* 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 



After Admiral Dewey's great victory at Manila on May 1st, 
there was no more fighting between the Americans and Spaniards 
until July 31st. Meanwhile, as already stated, several expedi- 
tions had sailed for the Philippines from the Pacific coast. These 
were under command of Major-General Wesley Merritt, who arrived 
at Manila on July 25th, and upon the arrival of the third expedition 




GENERAL WESLEY MERRITT. 
haJ 11,500 troops with which to conduct operations for the capture 

of the city. 

General Merritt and Admiral Dewey consulted as to the best 
method of procedure, and it was agreed that all the interests of 
foreigners and non-combatants in the city should be protected as far 
as possible. 

The fight on the night of July 31st indicated a degree of vigor on 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. * 737 

the part of the Spanish garrison for which they have not been given 
credit. It was a night attack on the fhnk of the American line. 
The insurgents were not fighting that day, it being one of their holi- 
days, and they withdrew to enjoy it at leisure. The Spanish improved 
the opportunity to attack, but they found the American soldiers, as 
usual, equal to the occasion, and General Merritt reported the result 
with quiet gratification. The first intelligence of this important 
engagement came in a despatch dated Hong Kong, August 9th, as 
follows : 

" Word has been received here to the effect that there was a heavy 
land engagement between the American and Spanish forces on the 
night of July 31st at Manila. The Spanish led in the attack, attempt- 
ing to turn our right. After three hours of fighting, the Spanish. 
were repulsed, with the loss of over 200 killed and 300 wounded. 
Our loss was only nine killed and forty-four wounded. 

A Glorious Defence. 

" The American troops engaged were the Tenth Pennsylvania 
First California Battalion, Third Artillery, United States Regulars, 
and Battery A of Utah. Our volunteers made a glorious defence 
against upwards of 3,000 men, who composed the attacking 
force. 

" The Spaniards made several desperate charges upon the Amer- 
ican lines, but each time the fire of the American troops drove the 
Spaniards back, and finally broke the Spanish centre and the enemy 
retreated. Later, however, the Spaniards made a second attack, but 
were again repulsed and retreated into the bush, keeping up an inces- 
sant fire on the road leading to Manila, over which they apparently 
expected the American troops to advance. Some estimates placed the 
Spanish losses at over five hundred killed and wounded." 

General Green's force, numbering 4,000 men, had been advancing 
and entrenching. The arrival of the third expedition filled the Span- 
iards with rage, and they determined to give battle before Camp 
Dewey could be reinforced. The trenches extended from the beach, 

three hundred yards to the left flank of the insurgents. Sunday was 
47 D 



738* LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

the insurgents' feast day, and their left flank withdrew, leaving the 
American right flank exposed. 

Companies A and E, of the Tenth Pennsylvania and Utah Battery, 
were ordered to reinforce the right flank. In the midst of a raging 
typhoon, with a tremendous downpour of rain, the enemy's force, 
estimated at 3,000 men, attempted to surprise the camp. Our pickets 
were driven in and the trenches assaulted. 

The brave Pennsylvania men never flinched, but stood their ground 
under a withering fire. The alarm spread, and the First California 
Regiment, with two companies of artillery, who fought with rifles, 
were sent up to reinforce the Pennsylvanians. The enemy were on 
top of the trenches when these reinforcements arrived, and never was 
the discipline of the regulars better demonstrated than by the work 
of the Third Artillery under Captain O'Hara. Nothing could be 
seen but flashes of Mauser rifles. 

The Enemy Repulsed. 

Men ran right up to the attacking Spaniards and mowed them 
down with regular volleys. The Utah Battery, under Captain 
Young, covered itself with glory. The men pulled their guns through 
mud axle deep. Two guns were sent around in flank and poured in 
a destructive enfilading fire. The enemy was repulsed, and retreated 
in disorder. Our infantry had exhausted its ammunition, and did 
not follow the enemy. 

Not an inch of ground was lost, but the scene in the trenches was 
one never to be forgotten. During flashes of lightning the dead and 
wounded could be seen lying in blood-red water, but neither the ele- 
ments of Heaven, nor the destructive power of man, could ring a cry 
of protest from the wounded. They encouraged their comrades to 
fight, and handed over their cartridge belts. 

During the night the Spanish scouts were seen carrying off dead 
and wounded of the enemy. The American dead were buried next 
day in the convent of Maracaban. On the night of August 1st, the 
fighting was renewed, but the enemy had been taught a lesson, and 
made the attack at long range with heavy artillery The Utat Bat- 
tery replied, and the artillerv duel lasted an hour. 




MAP OF THE PHILLIPPINE ISLANDS. 



7 39 



740 * LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

The correspondent of the London Times at Cavite, under date of 
August 1st, wrote: "Yesterday I visited Camp Dewey and the 
American entrenchments before Malate. Captain Grant and Captain 
Young, of the Utah Artillery, were busy throwing up advanced earth- 
works for guns, under protection of the Nebraska Volunteers. From 
the upper floor of a European house facing the alignment of the 
earthworks I was observing the Spanish positions when a Nebraska 
sharpshooter beside me fired the first shot discharged by the Ameri- 
cans upon the Spaniards, who were crouching in the forward trench. 

" This was contrary to General Merritt's orders. He had forbidden 
an aggressive attitude unless the Spaniards advanced. The insur- 
gents now in force inland on the right of the American lines also 
opened fire, the Spaniards replying briskly with quick-firing guns 
and rifles, but their shooting was high and their shots fell half a mile 
behind the entrenchments, where a Colorado Volunteer picket was 
hit by a Mauser bullet. 

Cool in the Face of Danger. 

" Personally I was impressed by the nonchalant demeanor of the 
Americans in the fighting line. They were like high-spirited youths 
out on a picnic, while groups lying in the second line were playing 
cards. Had the Spaniards, who were unaccountably non-aggressive 
during the American landing and advance, dropped shrapnel from 
Malate fort, they would have wrought terrible havoc, one house 
forming a conspicuous mark, being within easy gun range. 

"The natives follow the American advance, occupying the houses 
within the fighting line. General Aguinaldo's guerrillas cause the 
Americans considerable trouble. While I was in camp information 
was received that a party of California volunteers, engaged in felling 
timber, had been arrested by the insurgents. Colonel Smith, under 
General Green's instructions, ordered out an armed detachment, 
which released the prisoners and brought the insurgents into Camp 
Dewey. General Green sent a message to General Aguinaldo saying 
that if the Americans were further molested he would disarm the 
whole Filipinos." 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 



741 



The same correspondent, under date of August 3d, wrote: "A 
heavy monsoon has been blowing since Sunday, and deluges of rain 
have greatly increased the difficulty of landing and moving the 




ADMIRAL MONTQJO, COMMANDER OF THE SPANISH FLEET. 
United States troops and multiplied the discomforts in camp, which 
were already almost unendurable. 

" Saturday was comparatively quiet, and so was Sunday until 
nightfall, when the Tenth Pennsylvania, Colonel Hawkins com- 
manding, occupied the trenches after some desultory picket firing. 
At 11.30 p. m., the enemy opened fire vigorously, under cover of the 



742 * LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

dense undergrowth. Their movements were further hidden by the 
floods of rain. The Pennsylvanians met the attack with a succession 
of volleys, covering their right with two companies stationed in the 
swamp beyond the entrenchments. 

"After about three-quarters of an hour two companies of the 
Third regular artillery, under Major O'Hara, arrived at double quick 
to relieve the Pennsylvanians, whose ammunition was almost ex- 
hausted. They soon silenced the enemy's fire, the First California, 
under Colonel Smith, and the First Colorado, under Colonel 
Hale, acting as supports. The affair lasted two hours. But not- 
withstanding the tremendous fusillade and the heavy shell fire, only 
nine Americans were killed and forty-seven wounded, though there 
were some casualties among the supports during the advance of the 
relieving battalions. 

" Although the engagement scarcely attained the importance of a 
battle, it thoroughly tested the quality of the United States troops 
and had an excellent effect, stimulating their zeal and enthusiasm and 
inspiring them with confidence. 

Sharp Fire from Spanish Guns. 

" The Spaniards, whose losses in the engagement are not known, 
are adopting tactics intended to irritate the Americans. Every night 
they maintain an annoying fire. They have now got the true range 
of the earthworks, and their shell and shrapnel fire is very accurate. 

" General MacArthur's brigade, which arrived Sunday, is landing 
to-day through the heavy surf. Nothing more serious than a thor- 
ough wetting has occurred as yet, although the operation is not with- 
out considerable danger. Hardly any cases of sickness are reported." 

Malate, where the engagement took place, is a small suburb of 
Manila on the road between that city and Cavite. It was there that 
the family of Captain-General Augusti was captured by the rebels 
two months before. The place had been strongly fortified and held 
by the insurgents, and was occupied by our troops on their arrival 
from the transports. 

General Green issued the following address to our troops : 




743 



744* LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

" The brigadier-general commanding desires to thank the troops en- 
gaged last night for gallantry and skill displayed by them in repelling 
such a vigorous attack by largely superior forces of Spaniards. Not 
an inch of ground was yielded by the Tenth Pennsylvania Infantry 
and Utah Artillery stationed in the trenches. 

"A battalion of the Third Artillery and First Regiment California 
Infantry moved forward to their support through a galling fire with 
the utmost intrepidity. The courage and steadiness shown by all in 
their first engagement is worthy of the highest commendation." 

" Mr. Williams, formerly United States Consul at Manila, has 
called the leaders in fifteen provinces of the Philippines to a confer- 
ence, from which good results are hoped." 

The scarcity of food was affecting even the richest class in Manila. 
There was no meat, bread or flour, except a very small reserve, 
chiefly laid under requisition for the Spanish troops. 

Famine and Epidemic. 

The newspapers, though rigidly censored, admitted that the famine 
and the unprecedented rains were causing an epidemic. They pre- 
tended that the disorders were trivial intestinal ailments, but it is 
believed most of them were dysentery, due to the wretched food and 
the dangerous character of the water. A number of important per- 
sons were ill. 

An abattoir was established for slaughtering horses and dogs. 
The newspapers admitted that the military bakers were reduced to the 
necessity of using rice, the stock of which would shortly be ex- 
hausted. The stock of fuel, too, was exhausted, and bakers were burn- 
ing doors and window frames. It is impossible to eat uncooked rice. 

A decree was issued authorizing the entry of private premises 
and the seizure of cattle and horses there, for nominal payments, 
made in worthless drafts. Several animals belonging to British 
owners were taken, though there were plenty belonging to Spanish 
owners that had not been seized. An attempt was made to seize the 
indispensable pony of the consular physician, and considerable indig- 
nation was expressed. 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. * 745 

In an engagement five miles beyond Guayama on August 8th, five 
of the Fourth Ohio Volunteers were wounded. The Americans were 
caught in an ambuscade, and the only wonder is that half of Com- 
panies A and C, of the Fourth Ohio, were not wiped out. Ever 
since Guayama had been occupied three days before, the natives were 
most demonstrative in praising the Americans, and in showing how 
delighted they were at the retreat of the Spaniards. Soon there 
came a change, which was not at all surprising to those who know 
the character of the Porto Ricans. 

It was just I o'clock in the afternoon when a horseman came gal- 
loping into the town, shouting: " Send the dynamite guns at once! 
Th^ Fourth Ohio is being annihilated!" 

Soldiers Hurry to Their Quarters. 

in less than five minutes the alarm had spread throughout the 
town, and the streets were filled with soldiers hurrying to their quar- 
ters. The natives disappeared as if by magic, not a single one of 
them remaining in sight. Shutters were hurriedly put up on all the 
shops that were open, the hackmen rushed their horses to theii 
stables, and everywhere the natives showed by their actions that they 
anticipated the recapture of the town by the Spaniards. The fears of 
some of the women led them to seek protection in the cathedral, 
vbere they spent the time in prayer. 

The Spanish attack grew out of the fact that Colonel Coit, Major 
Dean and Lieutenant Wardman of General Brooke's staff, had, with 
Companies A and C of the Fourth Ohio, started early in the morn- 
ing to reconnoitre to the northward with the object of ascertaining 
the truth of the reports that the Spaniards had mined the bridges on 
the road to Cayey, whither General Brooke's command was bound. 
On account of the smallness of the reconnoitring party, the report 
that they had been attacked by the Spaniards caused consternation at 
the Guayama headquarters. 

A srtong force was, however, at once hurried to the front. There 
were no horses to haul the dynamite guns, but the men buckled to 
and dragged them over the hills for five miles to the scene of action. 



746 * LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

On the way several privates of Company C were met. They reported 
that that company and Company A had been practically annihilated 
by Spanish artillery. They declared that they were too tired to fight 
any more. At 2 o'clock the reinforcements reached a turn of the road, 
and the whole scene of the engagement lay before them. They stood 
directly on the spot where the first ambuscade had been made. The 
road here takes a sudden turn to the right, while 300 yards further 
on it makes a quick turn to the left. Thus the marching troops 
were expo c ed at both turns to fire from the hills on either side. 

The Spaniards were about 600 yards away. They were intrenched 
on one side behind a blockhouse and on the other behind earthworks 
on top of a hill. Nothing but a shallow ditch on the left side of the 
road saved the American troops. That the fire had been blistering 
hot there was shown by the trees, whose leaves and boughs had been 
torn away by the Spanish shot. For the greater part of two hours 
the Americans lay in the ditch, the Spaniards meanwhile directing a 
hot fire against them, but not attempting to charge them. 

Hot Fire from the Blockhouse. 

A stampede was started in Company C by the collapse of Captain 
Biddle, who was prostrated by the heat. When he fell it was gener- 
ally believed that he had been shot, and the effect on the men might 
have been serious had it not been for Lieutenant Wardman, who 
assumed command of the company and fought gallantly through the 
engagement. As soon as the reinforcements arrived he pressed for- 
ward with his men to the top of the hill. Some time before this the 
enemy had stopped their cross-fire, but as soon as the Americans 
climbed the hill the Spaniards opened a hot fire from the blockhouse. 
The Americans rushed through the hail of bullets toward the block- 
house, and the Spaniards started to retreat. 

Just at this time the dynamite guns got into action. The first shell 
landed at one side of the blockhouse and exploded with a terrific roar. 
The Spaniards were simply thrown into a state of panic by the explo- 
sion of the shell and were seen fleeing from the hill at top speed in 
all directions except toward the Americans. They could hardly be 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. * 747 

derided for evincing such a presiding desire to get out of range. The 
shell tore a hole in the ground for a distance of fifty feet and the 
shock of the explosion could be felt where the Americans stood. 

From the place in the road where the guns were fired the sight was 
a beautiful one. All up the hill the American soldiers, their brown 
hats silhouetted against the sky, kept volleying away at the enemy 
and chatting at the same time in a manner to shock regular troops. 

Welcome to our Troops. 

After th third shot from the dynamite guns the Spaniards were in 
full retreai. The Americans then retired to Guayama for the night. 
They found the houses still closed as tight as traps. Not until the 
dynamite guns appeared would the natives even open their windows. 
Then one by one they straggled out, shouting : " Long live the 
Americans!" and displaying the American colors. Captain Biddle 
had just left the hospital, and was scarcely in condition to command 
his company. 

That the Spaniards intended to put up a fight to prevent the ad- 
vance of the Americans was evident. Natives reported this morning 
that 400 infantry and 150 cavalry camped within four miles of Guay- 
ama the night before. They also reported that there were heavy 
artillery intrenchments within five miles of the town. No artillery or 
cavalry was engaged in the fighting. The Americans crossed three 
bridges, and upon examination found that none of them had been 
mined or otherwise tampered with. 

There was a two hours' fight before day-break at Cape San Juan 
August 9th, in which the Spaniards were worsted. Eight hundred 
Spaniards attempted to retake the lighthouse, which was guarded by 
forty of our sailors, commanded by Lieutenant Atwater. The Span- 
iards were driven back by shells from the Amphitrite, Cincinnati and 
Leyden. Refugees reported that one hundred Spaniards were killed. 
The Spanish advance began from Rio Grande, whither the Spaniards 
! iad retreated after the first lmding of troops at Cape San Juan the 
week before. They marched through Luquillo and pulled down the 
American flag at Fajardo and replaced the Spanish flag. 



^48 * LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

The terrified refugees warned the light-house force that the Spanish 
were coming. Sixty women and children were in an outbuilding of 
the lighthouse during the fight. The Spaniards opened with a 
machine gun at a distance of three hundred yards. The Leyden, 
Ensign Crosley commanding, rushed within one hundred yards of 
the shore and poured one-pounders into the Spaniards. Captain 
Barclay, of the Amphitrite, used six-pounders and the Cincinnati five- 
inch guns. 

The ships landed two hundred and fifty men during the fight and 
reinforced the lighthouse. A machine gun, rifles and ammunition 
were left by the retreating Spaniards. Ensign Crosley took the refu- 
gees off at daybreak and went to Ponce. Our flag was still on 
the lighthouse, but the forces were withdrawn. The Amphitrite 
guns covered the lighthouse, ready to annihilate it if our flag was 
hauled down. It is one of the most important lights on the island. 

An Engagement Suddenly Stopped. 

Hostilities were brought to an end at Guayama, Porto Rico, August 
14th, amid the groans and murmurings of the soldiers under General 
Brooke, who were about to begin a movement whose end seemed 
certain victory. 

Spaniards, massed in strong defences, lay right before our lines, in 
easy range. Light Battery B, of Pennsylvania, had been oidered 
into position to begin the engagement. The guns of the first section 
had been brought up and a gun had been unlimbered. A shell had 
been placed in the chamber. 

A Pennsylvanian stood ready to fire. Suddenly there was a shout 
from the rear. Two men on horseback dashed into view, frantically 
waving their arms. The men at the guns waited. The horsemen 
were Signal Lieutenant McLaughlin and an orderly. They had 
ridden hard from the end of the military wire that was built in the 
field to General Brooke's headquarters. 

The order to commence firing had been given when the lieutenant 
and orderly reached the gun. " Cease action !" shouted the lieu- 
tenant. Then to the wondering artillerymen he explained that the 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. * 749 

war was over. A message had been received from General Miles by- 
General Brooke, he said, directing that all hostile military operations 
should be stopped. The peace protocol had been signed by repre- 
sentatives of both governments. 

The Pennsylvanians, officers and men, howled with disgust, and 
when the lieutenant delivered General Brooke's order that they 
should return to the camp at Guayama they sullenly wheeled the 
guns about and went, sullenly, to the rear. The position of these 
men was superb. Brooke had thrown out three strong columns to 
the left of Guayama. His plan was to shell and rush his way to 
Cayey, where he was to form a junction with General Wilson. 

His main column, himself in command, consisting of three light 
batteries, three regiments of infantry and two troops of cavalry, 
advanced over a mountain road, with its flanks effectually protected. 
It n.et with no opposition. Three miles out beyond the scene of 
Monday's fight the enemy was discovered, intrenched in a splendid 
defensive position on the top of a mountain, but the range was easy. 

It was then that the notice of peace arrived and sent the soldiers 

sadly back with the gun that was to have sent the first shell on the 

way to victory. 

The Dawn of Peace. 

The Department of State at Washington, on the afternoon of 
August 2d, issued a statement announcing officially the President's 
terms of peace which were handed to Ambassador Cambon. They 
were that Spanish sovereignty must be forever relinquished in the 
Western Indies; that the United States should have a coaling station 
in the Ladrones, and that this country would occupy Manila's bay 
and harbor, as well as the city, pending the determination of the con- 
trol, disposition and government of the Philippines. The statement 
was as follows : 

" In order to remove any misapprehension in regard to the nego- 
tiations as to peace between the United States and Spain, it is deemed 
proper to say that the terms offered by the United States to Spain in 
the note tendered the French Ambassador on Saturday last are in 
substance as follows ; 



750 * LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

" The President does not now put forward any claim for pecuniary 
indemnity, but requires the relinquishment of all claim of sovereignty 
over or title to the Island of Cuba, as well as the immediate evacua- 
tion by Spain of the Island; the cession to the United States and 
immediate evacuation of Porto Rico and other islands under Spanish 
sovereignty in the West Indies, and the like cession of an island in 
the Ladrones. 

" The United States will occupy and hold the city, bay and harbor 
of Manila, pending the conclusion of a treaty of peace which shall 
determine the control, disposition and government of the Philippines. 

" If these are accepted by Spain in their entirety, commissioners 
will be named by the United States to meet commissioners on the 
part of Spain for the purpose of concluding a treaty of peace on the 
basis above indicated." 

Spain Expected to Agree to Terms. 

The announcement on August 7th, from Madrid, that the Spanish 
Ministry had formally decided to accept the proposition of the United 
States for a peace convention relieved the anxiety that was felt for a 
definite decision. No doubt was entertained that Spain would agree 
to the terms offered by President McKinley, nor was the faith of the 
President shaken in the ultimate outcome by reason of what the 
impatient public regarded as delay on the part of Spain in making 
answer. The public were not admitted to all the councils of the govern- 
ment and therefore were not prepared to form an intelligent opinion. 

There were reasons why an immediate reply could not be made to 
the American proposition, and these reasons were understood and 
appreciated by the President and Secretary Day. Convinced that 
Spain would accept the terms there was no disposition on the part of 
the President to insist upon hasty action. It was felt that the reply 
would be made within a reasonable time, and the good judgment 
and sagacity of the President were vindicated by the action of the 
Spanish Cabinet. 

On the evening of August 1 2th, 1898, President McKinley issued 
the following proclamation : 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. * 751 

" By the President of the United States of America. 
" A Proclamation. 

" Whereas, By a protocol concluded and signed August 12th, 1898, by William 
R. Day, Secretary of State of the United States, and His Excellency, Jules Cam- 
bon, Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary of the Republic of 
France at Washington, respectively representing for this purpose the Government 
of the United States and the Government of Spain, the United States and Spain 
have formally agreed upon the terms on which negotiations for the establishment 
of peace between the two countries shall be undertaken; and 

" Whereas, It is in said protocol agreed that upon its conclusion and signature 
hostilities between the two countries shall be suspended, and that notice to that 
effect shall be given as soon as possible by each government to the oommanders 
of its military and naval forces ; 

"Now, therefore, I, William McKinley, President of the United States, do, in 
accordance with the stipulations of the protocol, declare and proclaim on the part 
of the United States a suspension of hostilities, and- do hereby command that 
orders be immediately given through the proper channels to the commanders of 
the military and naval forces of the United States to abstain from all acts incon- 
sistent with this proclamation. 

"In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the 
United States to be affixed. 

" Done in the city of Washington, this 12th day of August, in the year of out 
Lord one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight, and of the Independence of 
the United States the one hundred and twenty-third. William McKinley.'' 

" By the President, William R. Day, Secretary of State." 

Provisions Stated in the Protocol. 

The protocol, signed by Secretary Day on behalf of the United 
States and by Ambassador Cambon on behalf of Spain, contains the 
following provisions : 

That Spain will relinquish all claim of sovereignty over and title 

to Cuba. 

That Porto Rico and other Spanish islands in the West Indies, and 
an island in the Ladrones to be selected by the United States, shall 
be ceded to the latter. 

That the United States will occupy and hold the city, bay and 
harbor of Manila pending the conclusion of the treaty of peace, 
which shall determine the control, disposition and government of the 
Philippines. 



752* LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

That Cuba, Porto Rico and other Spanish Islands in the West 
Indies shall be immediately evacuated, and that commissioners, to be 
appointed within ten days, shall, within thirty days from the signing 
of the protocol, meet at Havana and San Juan, respectively, to arrange 
and execute the details of the evacuation. 

That the United States and Spain will each appoint not more than 
five commissioners to negotiate and conclude a treaty of peace. The 
commissioners are to meet at Paris not later than the 1st of October. 

On the signing of the protocol, hostilities will be suspended and 
notice to that effect will be given as soon as possible by each govern- 
ment to the commanders of its military and naval forces. 

The closing chapter of events that led up to the signature of the 
protocol and the cessation of hostilities were full of interest. There 
were rumors in the early morning that over night the French Em- 
bassy had received the long-expected final instructions from Madrid, 
but these, upon inquiry, proved groundless, and it was not until half 
past 12 that the note began to come from Madrid in small lots. 

The Formal Ceremony. 

At 2.45 o'clock Secretary Thiebaut, of the French Embassy, 
appeared at the State Department to inform Secretary Day that the 
Ambassador was in full possession of the note, was fully empowered 
to sign the protocol for Spain, and only awaited the pleasure of the 
State Department. He intimated that the Ambassador would be 
pleased to have the final ceremony conducted in the presence of 
President McKinley, where the negotiations were begun. 

Leaving the Secretary of Embassy in his own office, Secretary 
Day made a short visit to the White House to learn the President's 
wishes in the matter. The latter immediately consented to accept 
the suggestion, and M. Thiebaut hastened to inform his principal that 
the President would receive him at the White House at 4 o'clock. 

At the appointed hour a driving rain storm prevailed, obliging all 
the parties to resort to carriages for transportation to the White 
House. Secretary Day came first, with a large portfolio under his 
arm, enclosing copies of the protocol, of the proclamation to be issued 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. * 753 

by the President stopping hostilities, and some other necessary 
papers. He was accompanied by Assistant Secretary Moore, Second 
Assistant Secretary Adee and Third Assistant Secretary Cridler. 
They were shown immediately into the Cabinet room, where the 
President sat in waiting. 

When Ambassador Cambon reached the White House the rain 
was still violent, and the Ambassador abandoned his usual custom of 
alighting at the outer gates of the Executive grounds. He was 
driven under the porte cochere, passing tlnough a cordon of news- 
paper men, before he and Secretary Thiebaut were ushered inside. 
They went direct to the library adjoining the Cabinet room on the 
upper floor. At 4.05 they were announced to the waiting party in 
the Cabinet room, and were ushered into their presence. 

After an exchange of diplomatic courtesies no unnecessary loss 
of time occurred and Assistant Secretary of State Cridler, on the 
part of the United States, and First Secretary Thiebaut, on the part 
of Spain, retired to a window, where there was a critical formal exam- 
ination of the protocol. This inspection had all the outward formali- 
ties due a document of this importance and was considered proper 
in a matter of such grave importance. 

How the Protocol Was Arranged. 

It was prepared in duplicate at the State Department, one copy to be 
retained by the United States Government, and the other to become 
the property of Spain. The text was handsomely engrossed in a 
running Old English script. Each copy of the protocol was arranged 
in double column, French and English standing alongside for easy 
comparison as to the exactness of the translation. 

The protocol sent to Spain was accompanied by the credentials is- 
sued by President McKinley, specially empowering the Secretary of 
State to affix his signature to this document. The authorization was 
brief and in type-writing, save for the President's characteristic bold 
signature. Written credentials of the Spanish government were 
sent to M. Cambon bearing the signature of Cristina. The cable 
dispatch received by him conferred full authority to sign the proto- 
48 D 



754* LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

col, and stated that the written authorization w\ uld follow, signed by 
the Queen Regent in the name of the King. 

The examination of the protocol was satisfactory, and the docu- 
ment was handed to M. Cambon first, and then to Secretary Day, who 
affixed signatures in that order to each side of the two copies. Then 
the last detail in making the protocol binding was administered by 
Assistant Secretary Cridler, in charge of the chancery woik, who 
attached the seal of the United States. 

Throughout the ceremony all but the two signers remained stand- 
ing. M. Cambon, in signing for Spain, occupied the seat which 
Secretary of the Navy, Long, now away on a vacation, usually occu- 
pied. The President stood at the left hand corner at the head of the 
great Cabinet table. Secretary Day, M. Thiebaut and M. Cambon, 
in the order named, on the left side of the table. The rest of the 
party were standing in other portions of the room. 

The Signatures Are Attached. 

It was 4.23 o'clock when the final signatures were attached to the 
protocol, and within the knowledge of all the officials present this 
was the first time that a protocol or treaty had been signed at the 
White House. 

As this ceremony concluded, Acting Secretary Allen, of the Navy 
Department; Secretary Alger and Adjutant General Corbin appeared 
having been summoned to the White House by the President, and 
they were admitted into the Cabinet room just in season to witness 
one of the most impressive features of the ceremony. 

The President requested the hand of the Ambassador and through 
him returned thanks to the sister republic of France fur the exercise 
of her good offices in bringing about peace. He also thanked the 
Ambassador personally for the important part he has played in this 
matter, and the latter replied in suitable terms. As a further mark 
of his disposition, President McKinley called for the proclamation 
which he had caused to be drawn up suspending hostilities, and 
signed it in the presence of M. Cambon, who expressed his appreci- 
ation of the action. 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. * 755 

The following are fac-similes of the signatures of the French Am- 
bassador and Secretary Day, which were attached to the Protocol : 




<tj% 






President McKinley Praises the Troops. 
The following official correspondence between President McKinley 
and General Breckinridge, in which the President pays tribute to the 
troops who could not be sent to the front, was made public August 
1 2th. 
'The President: "Chickamauga Park, Ga., August 10, 1898. 

"May I not ask you, in the name and behalf of the forty thousand men of 
this command, to visit it while it is still intact ? There is much to be said show- 
ing how beneficial and needed such a visit is ; but you will appreciate better than 
I can tell you the disappointment and consequent depression many men must 
feel, especially the sick, when they joined together for a purpose, and have done 
so much to show their readiness and worthiness to serve their country in the field, 
but find themselves leaving the military service without a battle or campaign. 
All who see them must recognize their merit and personal interest, must encour- 
age all if you can find time to review this command. 

" Breckinridge, Major General Commanding." 

The following is the President's reply : 

" Executive Mansion, Washington, August 11, 1898. 
" Major General Breckinridge, Chickamauga Park : 

" Replying to your invitation I beg to say that it would give me great pleasure 



756* SUMMARY OF EVENTS OF THE WAR. 

to show by a personal visit to Chickamauga Park, my high regard for the forty 
thousand troops of your command, who so patriotically responded to the call for 
volunteers and who have been for upwards of two months ready for any service 
and sacrifice the country might require. My duties, however, will not admit of 
absence from Washington at this time. 

" The highest tribute that can be paid to a soldier is to say that he performed 
his full duty. The field of duty is determined by his government, and wherever 
that chances to be is the place of honor. All have helped in the great cause, 
whether in camp or battle, and when peace comes all will be alike entitled to the 
nation's gratitude. " William McKinley.'' 

On Saturday, August 13th, another and very important victory was 
added to those already gained by our military and naval forces. 
Manila fell before the guns of Dewey's fleet and the assaults of Gen- 
eral Merritt's troops. No news having reached the Philippines of the 
end of the war by the signing of the protocol on August 12th, the 
long deferred attack upon Manila was made, and after a spirited re- 
sistance by the Spanish troops, the city surrendered. 

Early in the morning Dewey's fleet, which had blockaded the town 
since May 1st, advanced and signalled a demand for a surrender, 
which was refused. The forts were then bombarded with great effect, 
and the city was taken by our land forces. The Spanish General 
Augusti, was taken off by a German cruiser late at night and with 
his family went to Hong Kong. 

The capture of Manila completed a series of military events of the 
most brilliant description and destined to change the map of the 
world, placing America in the front rank of naval and military powers, 
a position which she had not held up to the time of our War with 
Spain, owing to the fact that it has never been necessary for us to 
take on the character of a military nation. 

Condensed Record of the Events of the War. 

The following is a condensed record of the Events of the War, 
including the dates on which all the principal events took place: 

February 15, 1898. — Destruction of the Battleship Maine in the har- 
bor of Havana. 
February 17th. — Court of Inquiry on Maine explosion appointed. 



SUMMARY OF EVENTS OF THE WAR. * 757 

March 28th. — Court of Inquiry reports Maine blown up by external 
causes. 

April 5th. — Consul-General Lee recalled from Havana. 

April 10th. — Consul- General Lee sails from Cuba. 

April nth. — President McKinley sends a message to Congress on 
the Cuban question. 

April 1 6th. — Senate passes the Belligerency resolutions. 

April 1 8th. — House refuses to recognize the belligerency of the 
Cubans. Spain sends memorandum to the Powers. 

April 19th. — Congress adopts conference report. 

April 20th. — The President signs the Cuban bill, and sends an ulti- 
matum to Spain in accordance therewith. He also makes public 
notification of blockade of Cuban ports. 

April 2 1 st. — Passports sent Minister Woodford. 

April 23d. — Havana blockaded by North Atlantic Squadron, and 
cruiser Nashville fires first shot of the war, taking as prize 
steamer Buena Ventura. The President issues proclamation 
calling for 125,000 men. 

April 24th. — Spain makes declaration of war. 

April 25th. — Congress declares war against Spain dating from April 
2 1 St. 

April 26th. — Congress passes Army Reorganization bill, and the 
President proclaims adherence to the Declaration of Paris. 
England proclaims neutrality. 

April 27th. — Matanzas fortifications bombarded by New York, Puri- 
tan and Cincinnati. Admiral Dewey sails from Mirs Bay to 
Manila to engage Spanish fleet. 

April 28th. — France declares neutrality. Congress passes Naval 
Appropriation bill. 

April 29th. — Admiral Dewey arrives off Philippine Islands. Army 
moves from Chattanooga for Tampa. Portugal declares neutral- 
ity. Fleet under command of Admiral Cervera sails from Cape 
Verde Islands for West India waters. 

April 30th.— Battleship Oregon and the Marietta reach Rio from San 
Francisco. 



758 * SUMMARY OF EVENTS OF THE WAR. 

May 1st. — Admiral Dewey's fleet entirely destroys the Spanish fleet 

in Manila Bay. 
May 2d. — Admiral Dewey demands surrender of fortifications in har- 
bor of Manila, and cuts cable to Hong Kong. 
May 3d. — Government decides to send an army to the Philippines. 
May 4th. — Oregon and Marietta leave Rio. 
May 5th. — Gunboat Wilmington covers landing of arms from tug 

Ley den for the Cubans. Spaniards routed. 
May 7th. — Admiral Dewey announces the capture of Cavite. 
May 9th. — At the request of President Congress unanimously gives 

vote of thanks to Admiral Dewey. Torpedo boat Winslow has 

a fight with Spanish vessels in Cardenas harbor. 
May nth. — Ensign Bagley and four of the crew of the Winslow 

killed during an engagement in Cardenas harbor. Cable at 

Cienfuegos cut. 
May 1 2th. — Admiral Sampson bombards San Juan de Porto Rico. 

General Merritt accepts command of Philippine Islands a. "My. 
May 13th. — Commodore Schley sails from Hampton Roads with 

Flying Squadron. 
May 14th. — Admiral Cervera's fleet reported at Curacoa. 
May 17th. — Censorship of Cable messages established. 
May 1 8th. — Alabama launched. Cables cut by St. Louis and Wam- 

patuck under heavy fire. 
May 19th. — Commodore Schley's fleet at Key West. Cervera's fleet 

reported at Santiago. 
May 20th. — Six regiments of immunes ordered raised. 
May 22d. — Cruiser Charleston sails from San Francisco to Manila. 
May 24th. — Battleship Oregon arrives at Jupiter, Fla. 
May 25th. — President calls for 75,000 additional volunteers. First 

expedition of troops sailed for Manila. 
May 26th. — Colonel Lacret lands in Cuba with 432 men. 
May 29th. — Commodore Schley reports finding Admiral Cervera's 

fleet in Santiago Bay. 
May 30th. — General Shafter ordered to embark with 15,000 or more 

men for Santiago campaign. 



SUMMARY OF EVENTS OF THE WAR. * 759 

May 31st. — Commodore Schley bombards fortifications at Santiago. 

June 1st. — Admiral Sampson takes command at Santiago. 

June 2d. — House passes urgent deficiency bill of nearly $18,000.- 
000. Spain makes another appeal to the Powers to intervene in 
her behalf. 

June 3d. — Hobson and crew of seven men sink Merrimac in entrance 
of Santiago harbor to prevent egress of Cervera's fleet, and are 
captured by Spanish. 

June 6th. — Santiago fortifications again bombarded and Spanish 
cruiser Reina Mercedes sunk. Admiral Dewey reports insurgent 
successes around Manila. 

June 7th. — Fortifications at Caimanera in Guantanamo Bay destroyed. 
Monitor Monterey sails for Manila. 

June 10th. — Congress passes war revenue bill. Six hundred marines 
land at Caimanera. 

June nth. — Spanish troops attack marines, but repulsed with heavy 
loss. Four Americans killed. 

Tune 1 2th. — Attack renewed, but Spanish troops again repulsed. 
Philippine insurgents declare independence and choose Aguin- 
aldo President. 

June 13th. — Attack on marines at Caimanera at night. Two Ameri- 
cans killed and 1 5 Spaniards. Latter repulsed. 

June 14th. — General Shafter sails from Tampa for Santiago with 
15,000 men. American marines and Cubans storm blockhouse 
at Caimanera, capture it and rout the enemy. 

June 15th. — Second expedition for the Philippines sails. House 
passes Hawaiian resolutions by vote of 209 to 91. The ex- 
change of Lieutenant Hobson is authorized by the Spanish 
Government. 

June 16th. — The Cadiz squadron, under Admiral Camara, sails for 
the Philippines. 

June 19th. — Admiral Sampson and General Garcia confer. 

June 20th. — General Shafter's army lands at Baiquiri. 

June 2 1 st. — Forts at Nipe Bay silenced and Spanish vessel Jorge 
Juan sunk. Sampson and Shafter visit Garcia. Cruiser Charles- 
ton captures Guam, Ladrone Islands. 



760* SUMMARY OF EVENTS OF THE WAR. 

June 22d. — Part of General Shafter's army disembarks. The St. 

Paul disables the Terror in harbor of San Juan, Porto Rico. 
June 23d. — General Shafter's troops all landed without accident. 

Monitor Monadnock sails for Manila. 
June 24th. — Battle of La Quisima, 16 Rough Riders and Regulars 

killed and 40 wounded. 
June 27th. — Commodore Watson ordered to command squadron to 

proceed to Spain. Third expedition for Manila sails. 
June 28th. — President orders Cuban Blockade extended. 
June 29th. — General Merritt sails for Manila. 
June 30th. — First expedition to Manila arrives. General Shafter's 

army advances near Santiago. The Egyptian Government orders 

Camara's squadron to stop coaling in its waters. 
July 1st. — Battle of Santiago begun. General Lawton's division 

storms and captures El Caney, and another division, including 

Regulars and Rough Riders, storm and capture San Juan. 

American troops lose about 1,800 men. 
July 2d. — Spanish forces try unsuccessfully to recapture San Juan. 
July 3d — Commodore Schley destroys Admiral Cervera's fleet. 
July 4th. — Spanish cruiser Alphonso XIL sunk off Havana by the 

Hornet. 
July 6th. — Senate votes affirmatively on Hawaiian resolutions. Hob- 
son exchanged. President McKinley issues a Thanksgiving 

proclamation. 
July 7th. — Admiral Dewey captures Isla Grande, Subig Bay, and 

forces German cruiser Irene to retire. President McKinley 

signs Hawaiian resolutions of annexation. 
July 8th. — Congress adjourns. Camara's squadron sails back to 

Spain. 
July nth. — General Miles arrives at Santiago. 
July 13th. — General Shafter reports yellow fever among the troops. 
July 14th. — General Toral surrenders the Spanish army in the greater 

part of Santiago province, including the city to General Shafter. 
July 15th. — The fourth expedition for Manila sails. 
July 17th. — The American flag raised in Santiago. 



SUMMARY OF EVENTS OF THE WAR. * 761 

July 1 8th. — The President issues a proclamation regarding the gov- 
ernment of Santiago. 

July 20th. — Troops sail from Tampa for Porto Rico. 

July 2 1st. — General Miles sails with troops for Porto Rico from 
Guantanamo Bay. 

July 25th. — General Miles lands at Guanica, Porto Rico, and General 
Merritt reaches Manila. 

July 26th. — Spain sues for peace through French Ambassador 
Cambon. 

July 27th. — Nearly 3,000 fever cases among American troops at 
Santiago. 

July 29th. — Ponce, Porto Rico, surrenders, and inhabitants give warm 
welcome to General Miles 

July 30th. — President McKinley makes reply to Spain's plea for peace. 

July 31st. — Battle of Malate, an outskirt of Manila. Spanish troops 
attack at night and repulsed with heavy loss, estimated at 500 
killed and wounded. American loss, 14 killed and 44 wounded. 

August 2d. — General Merritt asks for 30,000 more troops. Spain in- 
timates she will accept the terms of peace demanded by the 
United States. 

August 3d. — Colonel Roosevelt and Generals under General Shafter 
unite in a Round Robin, asking that troops be sent home on 
account of yellow fever. 

August 5th. — Embarkation of Shafter's troops for home begins. Gen- 
eral Hains captures Guanama after a sharp skirmish. 

August 9th — Spain sends long reply to United States terms of peace. 

August 1 2th. — Peace protocol signed in Washington. War and Navy 
Departments cable Generals and Admirals to suspend hostilities. 
Blockade of Havana raised. 

August 13th. — Hot battle between Spanish and American forces at 
Asmonte Ridge, Porto Rico. Americans victorious. May- 
agues captured. Havana batteries open fire on American war- 
ships, and one shot strikes the San Francisco, but injures no 
one. Flag of truce announcing peace then sent in. Bombard- 
ments of the forts at Manila by Admiral Dewey's fleet and a cap- 
ture of the city after an assault by General Merritt's troops. 



762* LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

Before the attack on Manila August 13th, detailed in the foregoing 
pages, General Merritt issued the following order to his army : 

"In view of the extraordinary conditions under which this army is 
operating, its commanding General desires to acquaint the officers and 
men with the expectations he entertains as to their conduct. 

"You are assembled on foreign soil, situated within the western 
confines of a vast ocean separating you from your native land. You 
have come not as despoilers or oppressors, but simply as the instru- 
ments of a strong, free government, whose purposes are beneficent 
and which declared itself in this war champion of those oppressed 
by Spanish misrule. 

"It is therefore the intention of this order to appeal directly to your 
pride in your position as representatives of a high civilization, in the 
hope and with the firm conviction that you will so conduct yourselves 
in your relations with the inhabitants of these islands as to convince 
them of the lofty nature of the mission you have come to execute. 

" It is not believed any acts of pillage, rapine or violence will be 
committed by soldiers or others in the employ of the United States, 
but should there be persons with this command who prove them- 
selves unworthy of this confidence, their acts will be considered not 
only as crimes against the sufferers, but as direct insults to the United 
States flag and be punished on the spot with the maximum penalties 
known to mi.itary law." 

Dewey's Terrific Bombardment. 

Further details of the battle before Manila show that with a loss 
of eight killed, fifty wounded and not even a shroud carried away on 
one of the warships, the American land and naval forces captured the 
city. Seven thousand prisoners, twelve thousand rifles, a number of 
field guns and an immense quantity of ammunition fell into the hands 
of the victors. 

The fortifications and shore defenses and part of the city itself were 
destroyed by American shot and shell during a terrific bombardment 
of two hours by eight ships of Admiral Dewey's fleet. The Ameri- 
cans killed lost their lives in storming the Spanish trenches, when 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. * 763 

they swept everything before them like a whirlwind, and gave the 
Spaniards and Filipinos a splendid exhibition of Yankee valor. 

Three demands for the surrender of the city were made by 
Admiral Dewey before Manila was attacked. The first was made on 
August 7th. In it the Spaniards were given forty-eight hours to lay 
down their arms. The German Consul immediately embarked all 
German subjects on the German warships for protection. On the 
afternoon of August 9th the demand for surrender was again made. 
The Spaniards asked a delay to enable them to get instructions from 
Madrid. This was refused. 

On the 13th the final demand was m^de. A message was sent to 
the Spanish commander at 8 o'clock. The Spaniards were given one 
hour in which to surrender. They immediately refused to do so. 
The American squadron promptly cleared for action. They moved 
into a line between Malate and Old Manila. There were eight ves- 
sels in the squadron- the Olympia, the flagship; the Monterey, the 
Boston, Baltimore, Charleston, Petrel, Raleigh and Hugh McCul- 
loch. The German and French vessels lay north of the Passig river. 
The greatest excitement prevailed among the vessels of the foreign 
fleet, which lay across the bay. The British and Japanese warships 
were nearest the American fleet. 

Signal to Open Fire. 

At 9.30 o'clock the signal to open fire fluttered from the signal 
lines of the Olympia. The flags were scarcely set when there was 
a roar from the big guns of the flagship herself. Instantly all the 
other vessels opened, and a shower of steel missiles sped toward the 
doomed city. At the same time along the line of the American en- 
trenchments the field guns opened on the Spanish position, and the 
American infantry were massed in the intrenchments ready for the 
final assault. 

The din was terrific. The heavier guns of the warships roared at 
intervals, while the rapid-fires barked viciously and the guns of the 
secondary batteries spat and sputtered fast and furiously. Through 
the awful noise the great 13- inch guns of the big monitor Monterey 



764 * LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

could be heard distinctly like great thunderclaps, and the awe-inspir- 
ing shrieks of her immense shells could be readily distinguished 
from the tenor and alto songs of the smaller missies. 

Great gaps were torn in the Spanish fortifications as the shells 
struck and exploded, and buildings in the outskirts of the city could 
be seen to tumble or rise in the air as the shells passed through or 
exploded within them. In the midst of the bombardment the order 
to storm the Spanish trenches was given to the American soldiers. 
The Spanish lines extended a distance of ten miles around the city, 
and from two to four miles outside the walls. 

Grand Assault by Americans. 

With a cheer the Americans sprang from their trenches and 
dashed for the Spanish earthworks. The First Colorado Volunteers 
were in the van. A deadly fire was poured in from the heights occu- 
pied by the Spaniards, and it was this that caused the American losses. 

But the men never hesitated. They swept the enemy from the 
outer line of intrenchments to the second line of defense. This was 
at once attacked, and from there the Spaniards were driven into the 
walled city. Then the Spanish commander saw that further resist- 
ance was useless, and he sent up a white flag. The bombardment 
was at once stopped, and soon afterward the American forces entered 
the city. General Merritt assumed command and temporarily 
restored the civil laws. 

The Spanish forces numbered about 7,000 men, but they were well 
intrenched. Nearly 10,000 Americans were engaged in the assault, 
and their losses under the circumstances are considered small. The 
Colorado troops were the first to storm the trenches, and every man 
was a hero. 

On August 1 8th the War Department at Washington received the 
following official report from General Merritt : 

"Manila, August 13. 
" Adjutant-General, Washington : 

"On 7th instant Admiral Dewey joined me in forty-eight hour 

notification to Spanish commander to remove non-combatents from 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. *765 

city. Same date reply received expressing thanks for humane 
sentiments and stating Spanish without places of refuge for non-com- 
batants now within walled town. 

" On 9th instant sent joint note inviting attention to suffering in 
store for sick and non-combatants in case it became our duty to re- 
duce the defences, also setting forth hopeless condition of Spanish 
forces, surrounded on all sides, fleet in front, no prospect of reinforce- 
ments, and demanded surrender as due to every consideration of 
humanity ; same date received reply admitting their situation, but 
stating council of defence declares request for surrender cannot be 
granted, but offered to consult Government if time was granted 
necessary to communicate via Hong Kong. Joint note in reply 
declining. 

"On the 13th joined with navy in attack, with following result: 
After about half-hour's accurate shelling of Spanish lines, McArthur's 
brigade on right and Greene's on left, under Anderson, made vigorous 
attack and carried Spanish works. Loss not accurately known — 
about fifty in all. 

"Behavior of troops excellent; co-operation of the navy most 
valuable. Troops advanced rapidly on walled city, upon which 
white flag was shown and town capitulated. Troops occupy Malate, 
Binondo, walled city San Miguel. All important centres protected. 
Insurgents kept out. No disorder or pillage. Merritt." 

What Is Thought of Our Soldiers. 

A correspondent of the Hong Kong Telegraph, writing from Ma- 
nila, furnishes the following estimate of the United States soldiers 
who were sent to the Philippines : 

" In the early part of the day the raw recruits from Roaring Camp 
or Dead Man's Gulch are being ' licked into shape ' by Sergeant 
Whatshisname, with a California twang. In the afternoon they have 
a rest, and may prowl about the native town, or bathe in the bay, or 
exercise their ingenuity in finding something else to do. They are 
a fine, big, strong-looking lot, of about the toughest type of the Wild 
West, I should imagine ; splendid fellows, no doubt, thorough 



766 * LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 

'rough diamonds,' extremely rougb. Great, hulking backwoodsmen, 
bull- punchers, diggers, cargo-lumpers from 'Frisco, farm hands from 
San Diego, and all apparently selected for their size. Among the 
lithe little Philipinos they are an army of Goliaths. 

" A strapping six-footer in non-commissioned officer's uniform 
came and asked us some questions in very broken English, with a 
Norwegian accent, and, after giving him the information he desired, 
we asked him, jokingly, ' Have any of your soldiers ever been in 
America? ' He stared for a minute or two, pondering over the true 
inwardness of the query, and then replied: ' Ve vas all Amurricans. 
Vat you dinks?' In some trepidation, as I gauged the man's 
height and fighting weight, I replied, ' I begs bardon, I dinks you 
vas some Norske shib's garbenders.' He took it quite goodna- 
turedly, and laughed as we parted. 

Mixture of Nationalities. 

" It is impossible to guess how many of these troops are of Ame- 
h^an birth. Possibly we miscalculated. (I say 'we' because I had 
a companion in all my peregrinations, an excellent and invaluable 
friend.) We guessed that there might be a fairly thick sprinkling of 
aliens, say 10 or 15 per cent., British and a similar proportion of 
Continental Europeans ; the rest, 70 or 80 per cent. American born. 
They look as if they should make the finest troops in the world, after 
being drilled and disciplined; strong, brave, intelligent, and with 
plenty of ' go,' not merely clay to be moulded like Chinese or Egyp- 
tian raw material, but full of fire and life. 

" At present, however, roughness is the chief characteristic notice- 
able about them. Their uniform intensifies the impression; it is a 
coarse brown canvas, beside which our Indian campaigning dress of 
khaki is as silk beside floor matting. The color is darker than khaki, 
and I think better for invisibility; but the material is altogether too 
much like coal sacks. 

" The Americans seem to carry their republicanism to such ex- 
treme lengths as to studiously avoid any suggestion of spruce or 
smart appearance; they could be dressed quite as plainly and still be 



LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. * 767 

neat and trim. I am not finding fault with the California Volunteers, 
nor do I overlook the fact that they had only just landed from a 
very long voyage. But, after making all allowances, it must be re- 
cognized that they are dressed in coarse canvas which after being worn 
some time looks slouchy. It is nothing against their fighting qual- 
ities ; as I have said, they seemed to me to be magnificent fighters." 

Our Regular Army. 

The regular army did not receive the credit it deserved for the part 
it played in the war with Spain. Nearly all the reports received 
gave glowing and deserved accounts of the bravery, dash and effi- 
ciency of the volunteers, but almost wholly neglected the performances 
of the regulars. Yet a careful study of the campaign will show in- 
disputably that it was mainly through the discipline and steadiness 
of the regulars that the volunteers were able to give such an heroic 
account of themselves, and that a threatened disaster was turned into 
a glorious victory. Few realized the splendid and invaluable charac- 
ter of the work performed by the regulars in the Santiago campaign, 
but when all is known these brave men should and will receive the 
full credit due them, and their true worth will be appreciated. While 
there was a large number of regiments of the regular army engaged 
in the battles near Santiago there were only three volunteer regi- 
ments. 

It w^s natural perhaps under the circumstances that at the outset 
the volunteers should receive the greatest attention from the public, 
and there was not the slightest reason to suppose there was any in- 
tention to glorify them at the expense of the regulars. The latter are 
the pride of the nation— always excepting the practical politician, who 
can see no personal profit in their existence ; but it was almost purely 
sentimental considerations that gave the most enthusiastic praise 
to the volunteers. In a sense the volunteers are closer to the mass 
of the citizens. Every regiment almost is composed of fathers, bro- 
thers, husbands, neighbors and friends of the people of a certain lo- 
cality, while the members of a regiment of regulars are recruited from 
all parts of the country. 






768* LATEST EVENTS IN CUBA. 






As much was not expected from the volunteers as from the regu- 
lars, for they had not the same training in the art of war. 

Without detracting in the least from the courage and valor of the 
volunteer forces, it is evident that both were strengthened and sus- 
tained by the coolness, the magnificent discipline and long military 
training of the regulars. It is y admitted that it was the 

clearheaded, cool conduct of the regulars that gave strength and con- 
fidence to the Rough Riilers and the other volunteers, even if they 
had been di ' >r a moment to waver during the terrible and 

blood)' charge up San Juan Hill to that glorious victory. 

Commissioners Appointed by Our Government. 

The commis tinted in behalf of the United States to 

arrange for th • Spanish evacuation of Cuba an R ar-Admiral Samp- 
son and Ma als Wade and Butler. The commissioners for 
Porto R anal Schleyand Ma Is Brookeand 
Gordon. The Commissioners appointed by Spain were as follows: 
For Cuba : Major General G Parrado R ar Admiral Pastor 
v Landero, Marquis Montoro. For Porto Rico: Major General 
Ortega y D i modore of I I Rank Vallarino y Carrasco, 
Judge Advocate Sanchez del Aguila y Leon. 

On August 24th it was annoum d that the following American 
Peace Com:: ttle the future of the Philippine Islands 

had been selected by President McKinley: William R. Day, of 
Canton, Ohio, Sen. tary of State; Cushman K. Davis, United States 
Senator from Minnesota, Chairman of th I ign Relations Com- 
mittee; William P. Five, United States Senator from Maine, mem- 
ber of th- Foreign 1 Committee. He has served ten years 
in the House of Representatives and fifteen in the Senate; suc- 
ceeded James G. Blaine in the Senate; Whitelaw Reid,ofNew York, 
for several years Amerii an Ambassador to the French Republic; and 
G >rge Gray, Unil d States Senator from l» who succeeded 
Thomas F. Bayard in th The sessions of the Peace 
Commission are to be held in Paris, 1 ommem in » not later than Octo- 
ber first and continuing until an agreement is reached. 







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